CZECHIA: Ownership of Russian Orthodox Church transferred to Hungary to avoid sanctions
New government in Belgium will continue to finance the Russian Orthodox Church despite the war
Radio Prague International (06.02.2025) – The Russian Orthodox Church has transferred the ownership of its assets in Karlovy Vary to its Hungarian branch so as to prevent the Czech state freezing them. This includes ownership of the Church of Sts Peter and Paul which now falls under the Metropolitan Emeritus of Budapest and Hungary.
For years, Russia has had a strong presence in the West Bohemian spa town of Karlovy Vary, where Russians owned homes, hotels and restaurants. That presence has diminished in recent decades, particularly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Czechia’s decision to approve its own version of the US Magnitsky Act enabling it to impose sanctions against individuals and legal entities for serious violations of Czech and international law.
Under the Czech version of the Magnitsky law, Czechia can impose sanctions against individuals in the interest of national security, protection of human rights and combatting terrorism.
The first name placed on the national sanctions list by the Czech government was that of Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kirill’s inclusion on the list means that he is barred from entering Czechia, any assets he has in the country have been frozen and he cannot undertake any financial transactions here.
In 2023 the Czech government also moved to freeze Russian state-owned property on Czech territory by placing the company that manages these assets on its national sanctions list. The move was to guarantee that income generated by the company in this country will not be used to finance the war in Ukraine.
Last year Nikolai Lishchenyuk, an Orthodox priest at the Church of Sts Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary was expelled from Czechia, and later stripped of the city’s honorary citizenship, over suspicions of hostile activities and espionage, including supporting separatist movements within the EU.
Fearing an asset freeze the Russian Orthodox Church, a sub-council of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia in the Czech Republic, swiftly transferred its ownership of the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary to the Hungarian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, a friendly offshoot of the same institution.
Experts who had warned that a transfer of assets was on the cards have expressed disappointment that it was not prevented and the assets were not frozen in time.
As of this year, the new head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic is Bishop Hilarion, whose lay name is Grigory Valeriyevich Alfeyev, Metropolitan Emeritus of Budapest and Hungary.
Belgium silently turns a blind eye and continues to finance the Russian Orthodox Church
HRWF – Despite the weaponizing of the Russian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate by President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine, Belgium silently continues to finance the Russian Orthodox Church.
Belgium finances a number of state-recognized religions and Orthodoxy has been one of them since 1985. A wide range of Orthodox Churches are present on the Belgian territory and the Russian Orthodox Church is one of them.
The Russian Orthodox Church in Belgium (ROC/ Belgium) is fully associated with the Moscow Patriarchate which has endorsed Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine and has called his “special operation” a “holy war.”
While Patriarch Kirill in Moscow was blessing the war and encouraging Russian citizens to express their patriotism by joining the army, the ROC in Belgium kept silent about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, about the crimes against humanity perpetrated in Bucha and other places, about the deportation of Ukrainian children in Russia and many other war crimes.
However, in June 2024, high-level clerics of the ROC in Belgium were invited to and participated in the celebration of Russia’s Day at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels: the rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Brussels, priest Adrian Alaoui and his wife; the rector of the Sainte-Juste-Anne church in Laaken (Brussels), the priest Andrei Popa and his wife; the cleric of Saint-Nicolas Cathedral in Brussels, priest Alexandre Motorny; priest Andrey Krayushkin, cleric of the Holy Trinity Church in Brussels, and his wife; The secretary of the Belgian diocese, Archpriest Pavel Nedosekin, with his wife. One can imagine the content of the official speeches in Russia’s embassy.
On this occasion, an article and photos were posted on the website of the ROC in Belgium.
The new government in Belgium appointed in early February prefers to turn a blind eye to Russia’s war on Ukraine and to silently go on financing the ROC in Belgium.