Czech Republic imposed sanctions against Patriarch Kirill Patriarch Kirill

The Czech government has imposed sanctions against Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All RUSSIA. He became the first Russian to be included in the country's national sanctions list, writes Aktualne.сz.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, commenting on the inclusion of the patriarch on the sanctions list, said that he justified "Russian aggression in Ukraine" through his sermons and public speeches. In addition, the minister recalled that the HEAD of the Russian Orthodox Church is already on the sanctions lists of Great Britain , CANADA, Lithuania and Ukraine, and that the Czech Republic relies on the decisions of these countries.

Czech sanctions imply a ban on entry into the country and the freezing of any property. The Czech Financial Analysis Authority (FAÚ) is responsible for implementing the measures. The Russian Orthodox Church considers the sanctions against the patriarch an attempt to escalate the situation in Ukraine and delay the achievement of peace.

On the day of the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the patriarch called on all parties to the conflict to try to avoid civilian casualties. He noted that he empathizes with everyone "whom the trouble touched." Russians and Ukrainians, according to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, are one people who are trying to be divided by external forces. Kirill urged to pray and help the Russian troops opposing "the most powerful forces that practically rule the world today."

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church also believes that the most violent conflicts in the world are due to the distance of people from faith. “All the most terrible conflicts today occur because people are moving away from faith. And vice versa, relying on faith, one can heal conflicts, overcome them,” the patriarch said in a sermon on Christmas night on January 7.

The name of Patriarch Kirill in the world is Vladimir Gundyaev. In 1971 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and appointed representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

Earlier, Sonntagszeitung, citing declassified Swiss federal police documents, interviews and publications, reported that Patriarch Kirill, while working in Geneva in the 1970s at the World Council of Churches, was a KGB agent under the pseudonym Mikhailov. According to the publication, he was supposed to collect information about the members of the World Council of Churches and influence their attitude towards the Soviet Union. The Russian Orthodox Church called these newspapers "politically motivated conjectures."