Among those who have been sanctioned:

  • nephew of Patriarch Kirill

    Mikhail Gundyaev

    , representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches in Geneva;

  • Uladzimir Lyagoida

    , Chairman of the Synodal Department of the Russian Orthodox Church for Relations of the Church with Society and the Mass Media

    ;

  • Vakhtang Kipshidze

    , Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and Mass Media

    ;

  • member of the Synod ,

    Raman Baghdasarov

    , who is responsible for relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Guard.

The introduced sanctions provide for the blocking of personal assets, as well as assets that they could dispose of through third parties.

Liagoida and Kipshidze were banned for 5 years.

Lyagoida himself called sanctions against religious figures "nonsense" and "rejection of common sense", noting the need to maintain communication channels.

The church will not be intimidated by inclusion "in some lists", he said.

  • In December 2022, the President of Ukraine signed a decree on the implementation of the decision of the National Security Council, in particular, which prohibits the activities of religious organizations associated with Russia.

    With this decree, Zelensky instructed the government of Ukraine to prepare and submit to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration a bill on the termination of activities in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation by February 2023.

Zelensky previously said that it is necessary to create such conditions under which "people dependent on the aggressor country will not have the opportunity to manipulate Ukrainians."

  • In May 2022, the Local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was held in Kyiv, which decided to completely renounce the Russian Orthodox Church.

    All references to the Russian Orthodox Church were removed from the charter of the religious organization, while they never announced their withdrawal from the Russian Orthodox Church.