The EU is to blacklist Russia's most senior cleric, Patriarch Kirill, as well as going after Kremlin oil revenue in its latest sanctions.
The 75-year old priest, Vladimir Gundayev from St Petersburg, in his recent sermons "blessed the Russian soldiers fighting for the Russian World and Holy Russia in Ukraine", a draft EU sanctions note seen by EUobserver on Wednesday (4 May), said.
He also called for "spiritual purification of U...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.