The Russian Orthodox Church is a powerful pillar of the Novorussian ideology. The EU wants to sanction its leader, Patriarch Kirill.
Just last Sunday, Patriarch Kirill walked through the Archangel Michael Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. With the Orthodox cross in his hand, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said during his liturgy: “Russia has never attacked anyone, nor does it intend to fight anyone.” Such is the condemnation of a war from the mouth of Russia’s highest cleric out of. He, too, is to be included on the EU sanctions list, like Russian politicians, entrepreneurs and propagandists before him.
Kirill’s words sound harsh, they are not surprising. For years he has been preaching hatred of the West and demanding loyalty to the Russian state. The 75-year-old sees Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a metaphysical battle between good and evil, with Russia as good and the West as evil.