Czech Republic. They want to check whether Orthodox churches are used in Russian influence operations

Chairman of the Senate Security Committee Czech Pavel Fischer told journalists that freedom of religion and association should not be abused to build the influence of a hostile power.

“We are convinced that it is undesirable for the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic or the Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands to be misused to exert influence on the Russian Federation against the interests of the Czech Republic,” Fischer said.

In his opinion, if the current regulations do not allow the state to respond to the security threats posed by the abuses of churches, the government should propose amendments that would give the state the necessary powers. They would be similar to those in the case of associations or political parties. Fischer recalled that the activities of Orthodox churches were controlled two years ago by the Ministry of Culture and no reasons were found to revoke registration.

The chairman of the commission recalled that the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic is a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is directly linked to the Russian state authority. The head of this church is Patriarch Kirill, who was placed on the Czech sanctions list in April 2023.

A week ago, Czech authorities revoked the residence permit of Russian Orthodox priest Nikolai Lischenjuk. He was said to have created, with the support of Russian authorities, a structure of influence that helped create and develop separatist tendencies in European Union countries.

The second active Orthodox church in the Czech Republic is independent of the Russian Orthodox Church and has the second largest number of believers in the Czech Republic, including many believers from Ukraine. Since 2014, it has been under the growing influence of people associated with Russian power structures.