"Most Russians identify with the Russian Orthodox Church, not the Roman Catholic Church. They reject the Fatima narrative because it is Catholic. The Russian conversion narrative stumbles over the fact that Russians don't want to be converted by Fatima.

That isn't to say the Russians didn't desire to be free from the Soviet yoke. It only means that the Russians don't see this liberation coming from Our Lady of Fatima. They tragically don't frame the changes happening in Russia as part of a universal triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Russian conversion narrative runs into more trouble. Russian Orthodox officials tend to see the Fatima apparitions as a Catholic fabrication to encroach on what they claim is exclusively Orthodox canonical territory & area of influence. Seen in the light of the Great Schism of 1054, when the Eastern Church left Rome, the Fatima message is rejected. The Orthodox have long persecuted Catholics in Russia & inhibited the practice of the True Faith.

- excerpt from [link to www.tfp.org (secure)]