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The outgoing Czech government, led by Petr Fiala, plans to impose sanctions against Russia’s Metropolitan Hilarion (secular name Grigory Alfeyev), who previously headed the Budapest–Hungarian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, Deník N reports.
The outlet reached out for comment to the likely future prime minister, Andrej Babiš, whose ANO party won the most recent elections. Babiš said he supported the move but emphasized that the matter currently falls within the competence of the outgoing government. Officials affiliated with Fiala, however, declined to officially confirm or deny the information. “I do not wish to publicly discuss adding anyone to the sanctions list,” said Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák.
Hilarion once belonged to Patriarch Kirill’s inner circle, but in June 2022 he was removed from his post as chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), excluded from the Synod, and sent to serve in Hungary. No reasons for this change were given. After Hilarion’s former aide, Georgy Suzuki, accused him of sexual misconduct, the ROC Synod dismissed him from his position as head of the diocese. He was then assigned to serve at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic. In the spring of 2025, Czech counterintelligence accused Hilarion of working for the GRU — in particular, of offering church premises for secret meetings of Russian agents. He was subsequently declared persona non grata and returned to Russia.