UK sanctions on Russia’s Patriarch Kirill ‘absurd’: Church

The Russian Orthodox Church on Thursday dismissed sanctions against its leader, Patriarch Kirill, imposed by Britain for his support of Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine.

“Attempts to intimidate the primate of the Russian Church with something or to force him to renounce his views are senseless, absurd and unpromising,” church spokesman Vladimir Legoyda said on Telegram.

“The church - now especially - is the last bridge, a means of communication, which they are trying to destroy for some reason,” Legoyda said.

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“This may be necessary only for those political forces that have the escalation of conflict and the alienation of peace as their important goal,” he added.

“There is no other way I can explain such absurd and counterproductive measures, which contribute to only one thing - breaking the already severely damaged communication between the European community and Russia,” he said.

Britain on Thursday sanctioned the 75-year-old cleric and ally of President Vladimir Putin two weeks after the EU dropped him from their own sanctions list after opposition from Hungary.

The new UK list also includes Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian children’s rights commissioner, for allegedly overseeing the forced adoption in Russia of some 2,000 Ukrainian children.

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