Hungary Reportedly Excludes Russian Patriarch Kirill From EU Sanctions for the Second Time

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, will reportedly be excluded from the EU’s latest sanctions package targeting Russia, at the request of Hungary.

This marks the second time Budapest has intervened on behalf of Patriarch Kirill. In June 2022, Hungary persuaded the EU to remove Patriarch Kirill from the list of those targeted by its newest sanctions package.

Also excluded from the EU’s latest sanctions package as a result of Hungary’s objection were the Russian representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, and the Russian Olympic Committee.

Patriarch Kirill is the current Patriarch of Moscow, serving as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009. He is known for his strong alignment with the Russian state and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, expressing strong support for Russia’s military actions, including the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In November, he praised the development of the hypersonic intercontinental ballistic missile Oreshnik, which was used against the city of Dnipro on November 21.

Hungary has repeatedly expressed disapproval of the provision of aid to Ukraine in resisting Russia’s invasion, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán previously described as a war between “two Slavic countries,” opposed its accession to the EU, and has remained a major buyer of Russian energy.