C. The Russian Orthodox Church is believed to encompass about half of the world's 300 million estimated adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Prince Vladimir I of Kiev officially adopted Byzantine Rite Christianity -- the religion of the Eastern Roman Empire -- as the state religion in 988. A 2007 poll indicated that about 75 percent of Russia's population considered themselves Orthodox Christians.

Q: Three members of a punk rock band were sentenced to two years in jail this year after they protested ties between church leaders and politicians by performing in a Russian Orthodox cathedral in the capital . . .

A. Kiev

B. Moscow

C. Saint Petersburg

D. Warsaw

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B. Moscow is the capital of both the Russian Federation and the Orthodox Church, which is headed by the Patriarch of Moscow. Shortly before Vladimir Putin was elected president for a third time, Patriarch Kirill hailed Russia's leaders for performing a "miracle of God" in delivering the country from "what it endured in the 1990s."

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Q: The Russian Orthodox Church has been gaining power since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Which of these areas of the former Soviet Union did NOT become an independent nation after the collapse?

A. Ukraine

B. Latvia

C. Georgia

D. Chechnya

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D. Located on the southwestern border of the Russian Federation, Chechnya has been racked by two wars since 1994 as it failed to win independence. Islam is the predominant religion in Chechnya.

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Q: The Russian Orthodox Church has become almost a state religion under Vladimir Putin, and it has supported his tough crackdown on political dissent. Under the Soviet Union, Putin was a member of which secret police and spy agency?

A. KGB

B. Gestapo

C. Cheka

D. Stasi

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A. From 1954 until 1991, the KBG spied on both foreign countries and the Soviet Union's own citizens. The KGB actively suppressed "ideological subversion" -- unorthodox political and religious ideas and the espousing dissidents. Putin served in the KGB from 1975 to 1990.

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