Patriarch Kirill, who is now threatened with EU sanctions, shares a deep hatred for the Russian president.
We pray here among the coffins of the tsars and tsars,” preached the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on May 3 at the Cathedral of Archangel Michael in the Kremlin. “There was not a single traitor among them, they all served their homeland to the best of their knowledge and belief.” They “carried the burden of great responsibility for the historic existence of our country” – a country that “never attacked anyone”: “It has always only defended its borders.”
Kirill’s message is clear and as always: the war of aggression is not a war of aggression, and President Putin is in the line of the tsars. Putin has immense ideological support in the patriarch, who urges Russians to unite around state power and accuses NATO of leading Russians and Ukrainians into fratricidal wars.
Sanctions against him, as the EU is now planning, are not out of the question, even if they set a precedent. Europe has never imposed sanctions on a religious leader, except for Iranian ayatollahs, who also hold state positions. In Russia, on the other hand, there is an official separation of Church and State. Indeed, for years, Cyril has been what Pope Francis has just warned him not to become: “Putin’s acolyte.”