"In Place of the Patriarch": Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of the Russian Orthodox Church has been added to the EU's 21st round of sanctions

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was not included in the European Union’s 21st round of sanctions, despite earlier threats from EU officials. Nevertheless, the updated list, published on June 15, includes a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church: Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Simferopol and Crimea.

According to an official EU statement, the new EU sanctions list includes more than 80 individuals and entities from Russia and other countries. The restrictions, according to Brussels, are aimed at those who support the Russian authorities or facilitate the circumvention of sanctions already in place.

Among the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church on the list is Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov). He is accused of “long-standing ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin inner circle.”

It is noted that the European Union first attempted to include Patriarch Kirill on the sanctions list back in 2022, accusing him of supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and spreading revisionist propaganda. However, the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blocked this measure at the time, calling it a matter of religious freedom.

As a reminder, earlier, Viktor Yelensky, chairman of Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (GESS), called for the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to be expelled from the World Council of Churches. In his view, the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate“directly contradict Christian commandments and are aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity.”