Ukraine issues arrest warrant for Orthodox Christian leader
A spokesman for the Russian church branded the move “lawless” and an “attempt to intimidate parishioners” | Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been put on a criminal wanted list by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry. The document identified the Patriarch by his secular name and described him as “an individual hiding from the bodies of pre-trial investigation” and deemed him responsible for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. ● The head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said that a criminal case had been opened following the announcement and that measures will be taken to identify the Ukrainian special service officials who are seeking to prosecute the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. ● Patriarch Kirill has repeatedly called on his parishioners to support the participants of Russia’s military operation against Ukraine, who were “sacrificing their lives to protect our Orthodox people in the Donbas.”