The UK has sanctioned Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, as part of a new round of measures in response to the Ukraine invasion. The 75-year-old religious leader, who was recently de-blacklisted by the European Union, “is being sanctioned for his support of Putin’s war,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
These measures, which include a ban on entering British territory and a freeze on UK assets, also target Maria Lvova-Belova, a child rights ombudsman in the Kremlin, for the “forced adoption and transfer of Ukrainian children.
Transport sector leaders and soldiers accused of “killing, raping and torturing civilians” in Bucha, near kyiv, are also targets of these measures.
“We are targeting Putin’s accomplices and perpetrators of war who are inflicting untold suffering on Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children,” Foreign Minister Liz Truss said in a statement.
The Russian church has already reacted to the announcement of the sanctions, calling them “absurd” and “meaningless”, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Attempts to intimidate the patriarch of the Russian Church or to force him to abandon his views are absurd, useless and hopeless,” Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said in a statement.
“The Church – especially now – is the last bridge, a means of communication that they are trying to destroy,” he added, denouncing “political forces that have made the escalation of the conflict and the distancing from peace their main objective.” According to the spokesman, these sanctions are aimed at “breaking the already seriously deteriorated communication between the European community and Russia.”
Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox since 2009, put his Church at the service of Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it a “miracle” and supporting the military offensive in Ukraine. The European Commission proposed to sanction it, but the European Union withdrew due to Hungarian opposition.
Source: Observadora
