Russia demands that Ukraine free Orthodox ‘martyr’ cleric from house arrest

Russia on Wednesday demanded that Ukraine free a top Orthodox cleric placed under house arrest by a Kyiv court this month in connection with allegations he had glorified Russia’s invasion and stoked religious divisions.
Metropolitan Pavlo, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (monastery) in central Kyiv, is a senior official in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which Ukrainian authorities have accused of being pro-Russian and of collaborating with Moscow, charges the UOC denies.
Pavlo, who the court ordered to wear an electronic bracelet, banned from attending church services, and ordered to spend the next two months living in a village outside Kyiv according to Russia’s TASS news agency, has denied wrongdoing and called the case against him political.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on Ukraine to free him immediately.