The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has put on the wanted list Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the patriarch is listed as "hiding from a pre-trial investigation." This follows from the materials of the search database.
According to the database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Patriarch has been wanted since November 11. He is in the category of "fugitives from the pre-trial investigation authorities." The Patriarch is accused of "encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine." It also indicates a preventive measure, which consists in detention.
The card does not specify that we are talking about Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, however, a photo of the patriarch is attached and his secular name Vladimir Gundyaev is indicated.
In October, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia called on the churches of the world and international organizations to support the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in connection with the consideration by the Ukrainian parliament of a bill banning it. The Patriarch's message was sent to Pope Francis, the head of the Anglican Communion, the Patriarch of the Coptic Church and other heads of the world churches. It was also sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, OSCE Secretary-General Helga Schmid, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on Freedom.
The announcement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of the wanted list of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is predictable and ridiculous, said Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal department of the Moscow Patriarchate for church-society and media relations.
"The Ukrainian special services have put on the wanted list Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia - this step is as predictable as it is ridiculous. Lawlessness and attempts to intimidate believers have become a common way of operating this repressive machine, at the hands of which many innocent children of the church in Ukraine have suffered. This is recognized not only by many international organizations, but even by many opposition figures in the United States - those of them who have not yet lost their understanding of what religious freedom is," Legoyda wrote on his Telegram channel.
He also noted that most of those who put the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on the wanted list studied at a Soviet school, without objecting to godless ideology, while the patriarch's grandfather and father were persecuted for their faith. "Should the heirs of the God-worshippers try to intimidate him?" Legoyda added.
According to him, the only thing that can be blamed on the patriarch is his faithful and consistent position on the protection of the canonical church in Ukraine. "Condemning and denouncing the schism provoked by the Fanar is what the patriarch is obliged to do by virtue of his duty to God and people," he stressed.