Ukraine: Brussels proposes to sanction the head of the Russian Orthodox Church


As part of a sixth package of measures, in response to the war in Ukraine, the European Commission proposes to sanction the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, according to a document seen on Wednesday by AFP. The new list, which will still have to be approved by member states, includes 58 personalities, including many Russian soldiers suspected of being involved in “crimes against humanity and war crimes” in Boutcha in Ukraine.

EU entry ban

It also includes the director of the Russian National Defense Management Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, for his role in the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Also targeted are the wife, daughter and son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The boss of the Russian telecoms policeman Roskomnadzor, Andrei Lipov, is also on the list, as is the new mayor of Melitopol Galina Danilchenko, installed by the Russian forces occupying the Ukrainian city.

The sanctions consist of a ban on entry into the EU and a freezing of assets. More than a thousand people are already on the European blacklist.

Patriarch Kirill, “a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin, has become one of the main supporters of Russian military aggression against Ukraine,” the document says. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which claims around 150 million faithful in the world, mainly in Russia, has multiplied the sermons supporting the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine.

On February 27, he saw there a fight against the “forces of evil” opposed to the historic “unity” between Russia and Ukraine.

17 entities covered

The new sanctions also target 17 entities, including the aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi, whose fighters are used in Ukraine, as well as other companies supplying the Russian armed forces with electricity, telecommunications, equipment (vehicles, drones, tires), but also in uniforms and meals.

European sanctions, taken since 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, already concern 1,091 people and 80 entities.



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