The Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a strong advocate of President Vladimir Putin, worked for Soviet intelligence while residing in Switzerland in the 1970s, Swiss newspapers reported, citing declassified archives.According to the Sonntagszeitung and Le Matin Dimanche weeklies, the Swiss authorities file on the guy who today functions as the spiritual head of the Russian Orthodox Church verifies that Monsignor Kirill, as he is described in this file, worked for the KGB.
The 2 documents said they had actually gained access to the file in the Swiss national archives.Kirill, who today is a fervent advocate of Putins war in Ukraine, resided in Geneva in the early 1970s, officially as a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Under the code word Mikhailov, Kirills objective was to influence the council, currently infiltrated by the KGB, the documents said.The Russian Orthodox Church has actually declined to discuss Kirills spying activity in Geneva, while the WCC had maintained it had no information about the case, they said.But, they reported, the archives revealed the Soviet objective was to press the institution to knock the United States and its allies, and to tone down its criticism of the lack of religious freedoms in the Soviet Union.The patriarchs nephew Mikhail Gundyaev, who currently represents the Russian church at the WCC in Geneva, however firmly insisted to Le Matin Dimanche that his uncle was not a representative, although he went through strict controls by the KGB.
And this, he firmly insisted, did not impact the sincerity of his engagement in ecumenical deal with other churches.
Gundyaev likewise firmly insisted that his uncle had had an unique appreciation for Switzerland.Kirill has gone to the rich, Alpine nation a minimum of 43 times, the paper reported.He was among other things passionate about snowboarding, even apparently breaking a leg on the Swiss slopes in 2007.
Between spiritual diplomacy, espionage and finances, Kirill has actually continuously been drawn to the Alps and the coasts of Lake Geneva, Le Matin Dimanche stated.
I have unique feelings for your nation, the patriarch himself stated in 2019 upon receiving the president of the upper house of the Swiss parliament.
Of all the countries in the world, it is potentially the one I have actually checked out the most typically.