A group of MPs from different factions considers it necessary to coordinate and submit to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) proposals on applying sanctions against four representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, particularly the chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
The corresponding draft resolution No. 7332 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on April 29, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
According to the explanatory note, church figures who systematically and actively support the war against Ukraine, legitimize the military invasion and genocide of Ukrainians by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the 16th patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev), the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Grigory Alfeyev-Dashevsky), the deputy head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church archpriest Nikolai Balashov, as well as Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porokhov of the Russian Orthodox Church (Georgy Shevkunov), known as the confessor of Vladimir Putin and a person close to the Russian special services.
The sanctions proposed for consideration by the National Security and Defense Council provide, in particular, for blocking assets, restricting trade operations, partially or completely stopping the transit of resources, flights and transportation through the territory of Ukraine, preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine, stopping the fulfillment of economic and financial obligations, canceling or suspending special permits for the use of mineral resources; prohibiting participation in privatization, leasing of state property; using the radio frequency resource of Ukraine.
The package of sanctions may also include a ban on the use of the radio frequency resource of Ukraine, restriction or termination of the provision of electronic communication services, a complete or partial ban on the conclusion of transactions on securities, termination of permits, licenses for the import of currency assets into Ukraine from a foreign state or export from Ukraine; termination of trade agreements, joint projects and industrial programs, in particular in the field of security and Defense; Prohibition of the transfer of technologies, intellectual property rights; termination of cultural exchanges and scientific cooperation; cancellation of official visits, meetings, negotiations on the conclusion of contracts or agreements; deprivation of state awards of Ukraine; prohibition on the acquisition of ownership of land plots.
The authors of the legislative initiative note that many facts about the criminal activities of Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Hilarion, archpriest Balashov and Metropolitan Tikhon have now been collected.
In particular, Kirill has repeatedly expressed support for the so-called "special operation" on the territory of Ukraine, and after the world-obvious atrocities of the Russian military and the genocide of Ukrainians in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel and surrounding villages of the Kyiv region, he made a speech in the Church of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, calling on Russians to join the ranks of the army and kill peaceful Ukrainians.
Regarding Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk and archpriest Nikolai Balashov, the authors of the document draw attention to the fact that these representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church promote the ideology of the Russian World and directly direct the Ukrainian direction of activity of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Regarding Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porokhovsky, the draft resolution states that he and Kirill are among the main developers and distributors of the concept of the Russian World – a neo-imperial project that became the ideological basis of Russia's war against Ukraine.