Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and shares his anti-Western sentiments. As a result, he has become the target of European Union sanctions.
More sanctions have been proposed by the European Commission, this time against another Vladimir. Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, is better known as Vladimir Gundyayev.
The 75-year-old is one of 58 people who have recently been targeted by the European Union. Because of their closeness to and support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies in Ukraine, the proposed sanctions include a travel ban and asset freeze.
Sanctions would make it unlikely that he would be able to attend the World Council of Churches’ 11th Assembly in August.
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Putin’s Patriarch
Putin and the Patriarch of Moscow are closely linked. Both hail from St. Petersburg. The latter ascended to the leading church role in 2009, in between Putin’s two long stints as president. In contrast to his predecessor, Kirill has praised Putin’s military adventures abroad, calling operations in Syria, for example, a “holy fight.”
He used the same term to describe the invasion of Ukraine, and has stuck with Putin’s use of “special operation,” rather than calling it a war. Allegations of atrocities committed by Russian troops against Ukrainian civilians have not changed his tune that the fighting is about territorial defense, not aggression.
