The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) announced on November 4 that it had filed criminal charges against Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in absentia for "justifying" Russia's invasion. It said he was "a member of the inner circle of Russia's top military and political leadership and...one of the first to publicly support the full-scale war against Ukraine." In October, Ukrainian lawmakers voted to ban the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), accusing its clergymen of collaborating with Russia. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, click here.
Ukraine Files Criminal Charges Against Head Of Russian Orthodox Church
Patriarch Kirill and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in 2020