Russian Orthodox Church views Kyiv's sanctions on Patriarch Kirill as PR campaign

MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - The Russian Orthodox Church has called Ukraine's attempts to put pressure on Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia with sanctions a waste of time.

"The discussion in Ukraine on sanctions against Patriarch Kirill and other bishops and clerics of the Russian Church is, I am convinced, nothing more than a political PR campaign whose only goal is to create an information uproar. Any attempts to exert sanctions pressure on the Primate, as I have reiterated many times, are a waste of time," Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoyda said on Telegram on Wednesday.

He once again noted that the Russian Church "is not an instrument of political influence, as the Ukrainian authorities imagine," and that "the mission of the Church has always been, is and will remain, the reconciliation and unification of people."

As for the announcement of sanctions on the patriarch and other clergymen, such steps are aimed "only at exacerbating divisions and enmity between fraternal nations," Legoyda said.