Head of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill once woked as a 'spy for KGB': Report

A report has revealed that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church once worked as a spy for the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB).

In the 1970s, he reportedly used a posting to Switzerland’s World Council of Churches in 1971 to collect information for the notorious Soviet spy agency. Kirill, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and a former KGB agent, had arrived in Geneva as an ambitious 24-year-old boy to fight with the Soviet Union.

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During the cold war, when religion in the Soviet Union was treated with suspicion and mostly used as a tool to spread Russia's worldview, Clergymen were often asked to sign up to become KGB agents before they were allowed to leave the USSR. According to a report published by the Telegraph.co.uk, Kirill used to work under his codename "Mikhailov" which was used to manipulate other members of the council into criticising the United States, reported the Swiss newspapers Sonntagszeitung and Le Matin Dimanche, citing declassified police records.

"I always had a feeling in conversations with Kirill that he was looking for information," said one anonymous Russian exile who lived in Geneva. "He was very friendly but asked a lot of questions about exile and clergy members," he added. "Between religious diplomacy, espionage, and finances, Kirill has continuously been drawn to the Alps and the shores of Lake Geneva," the outlet reported.

A Russian Orthodox priest and Kirill's nephew did not deny the report, but the Russian Orthodox Church and the World Council of Churches, an umbrella group of 352 different churches, have also chosen not to comment. However, the report suggests that Kirill has deep-rooted ties with the Russian and Soviet intelligence services. He has always supported Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and used his sermons to encourage Russians to fight against Ukraine and asked them to bravely defend "the Fatherland." He has said dying on the battlefield is a sacrifice that "washes away all your sins." Reports suggest that Kirill is a personal advisor to Putin.

Image: AP