Verkhovna Rada asked the National Security and Defence Council to impose sanctions on Patriarch Kirill and other Russian Orthodox Church Figures
TUESDAY, 31 MAY 2022, 16:24
The Verkhovna Rada appealed to the National Security and Defence Council to apply personal sanctions against Russian Patriarch Kirill and other church figures of the Russian Orthodox Church who support the war against Ukraine.
Source: People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak in Telegram, Verkhovna Rada website
Details: Zheleznyak listed 8 people against whom the Verkhovna Rada asks the National Security and Defence Council to impose sanctions:
- 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill
- Head of the External Church Relations Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk
- Archpriest Mykola Balashov, Deputy Head of the External Church Relations Department of the Russian Orthodox Church
- Metropolitan of Pskov and Porokhov of the Russian Orthodox Church Tikhon
- Archbishop of Syktyvkar and Komi-Zyryansk of the Russian Orthodox Church Pitirim
- Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church; writer, preacher and teacher Artemyi Vladimirov
- Metropolitan Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church, preacher, TV presenter Andrei Tkachov
- Russian Orthodox theologian, teacher and publicist, Doctor of Theology, Honoured Professor of the Moscow Orthodox Theological Academy and Seminary of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexei Osipov.
At the same time, the initial text of the draft resolution referred to only four people: Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Hilarion, Archpriest Balashov and Metropolitan Tikhon.
Zheleznyak said that 292 people's deputies, including representatives of the former OPFL (Opposition Platform — For Life) faction, voted in favour of the resolution.
According to the draft document, Verkhovna Rada proposes that the National Security and Defence Council impose a number of sanctions against representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, including: blocking assets; restrictions on trade transactions; prevention of capital flight from Ukraine; suspension of economic and financial obligations; ban on participation in privatisation or lease of state property; ban on the transfer of technology, rights to intellectual property rights; cessation of cultural exchanges, scientific cooperation, etc.; refusal to issue and cancel visas, application of other bans on entry into the territory of Ukraine; deprivation of state awards of Ukraine, etc.
Prehistory:
- On 27 May, the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate stated that it disagreed with Patriarch Kirill, the head of his own church, on Russia's war with Ukraine and that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church would continue to act as "independent and autonomous."
It was later clarified that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy decided on administrative separation from the Russian Orthodox Church, but with the preservation of spiritual communication.
