Freedom of Religion

Under the guise of freedom of religion, Viktor Orbán is blocking sanctions against Patriarch Kirill, who is one of the strongest pillars of Vladimir Putin’s regime. However, freedom of religion is no justification for a war of annihilation. By Rainhard Kloucek.

EU countries are attempting to exert pressure on Russia through sanctions in order to end the war against Ukraine as quickly as possible. A portion of these sanctions is specifically targeted at individuals who are so closely linked to the Putin system that they can be described as pillars of the regime. All these people possess significant assets, a substantial part of which they have moved to the West, as they do not trust their own political system. They know it only too well. The sanctions relate, among other things, to the withdrawal of access to these assets.

Various oligarchs and their family members are already affected by these sanctions. Now, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, is also to be placed on this sanctions list. Kirill is an old KGB colleague of Vladimir Putin. The Russian Orthodox Church is a vital pillar of the Putin system; the Patriarch is not only personally extremely wealthy due to various business activities, but is also one of the strongest proponents of the Russian war of annihilation against Ukraine.

It is therefore only logical to place Kirill, who abuses his ecclesiastical office here to justify rape and murder, on the sanctions list. However, this requires unanimity within the EU. This is not being achieved because Viktor Orbán is exercising his veto. He claims that sanctions against the head of the Russian Church would be a violation of the sacred freedom of religion.

Orbán and his government also believe they are protecting the Christian West. However, they have not understood what freedom of religion actually means. With his interpretation, Orbán justifies crimes against religious principles in the name of religion. This is a clear abuse of religion and religious freedom.

Why Orbán is doing this is not entirely clear. It is obvious that he is very friendly towards Putin. Whether he does so because there is ‘kompromat’ against him or because he wants to make himself feel important is unknown. Orbán also told the Holy Father that the war would be over by 9 May. As a saviour of the Christian West, however, Orbán is no longer credible with such pronouncements.