Patriarch Kirill tobacco and alcohol. Patriarch and cigarettes
Sergey Komkov wrote yesterday:
“Everyone remembers very well how successfully the Moscow Patriarchate traded vodka and cigarettes imported without taxes and state duties. Justifying this by the fact that all the same, those who need to drink or smoke will buy this damned potion and this fetid poison. So let it be better that the proceeds from their trade go to the “good cause of restoring temples.” It is not known for certain where this income actually went...
Being the president of the All-Russian Education Fund in those “hard times” and having the same benefits on customs duties, I did not even think about importing alcohol or tobacco to help children in Russia. We brought children's clothing, shoes and food from Southeast Asia. Some were sold and thereby financed foundation schools, and some were simply distributed free of charge to children in orphanages and boarding schools.
I think that more than one human life and destiny were ruined by that “Orthodox” tobacco and that vodka from the 90s. And everyone remembers perfectly well who directly led this commercial “operation.” And they even gave him a nickname - “tobacco metropolitan.” Who, by the way, still has not repented for those “troubled” times.”
http://www.portal-credo.ru/site/?act=news&id=122775
I had a conversation with Sergei Kamkov about those times.
He told how he met Faina Ipatievna Vakhreva and her children. Faina Ipatievna herself is a teacher. For her, the Russian teacher's story about hungry fainting in the classroom was such a shock that she immediately called her sons. The boys were already big and quite busy people, but half an hour after the call from their mother they were already at her feet, and she ordered them to find a way to help Russia. They proposed the idea of creating a Fund through which transfers could be made to Russia.
To Russia - from Taiwan.
The fact is that Faina Ipatievna was the first lady of this country.
Her husband, Chiang Kai-shek's son, was Taiwan's president from 1978-88.
Children (both her own and her husband’s children from another woman who were raised by her), of course, were also part of the country’s elite.
Kamkov also said that when the president was informed that one of the reasons for the hole in the budget was the funds for which holes were made at the border, which is why huge excise money goes past the budget, then Yeltsin in a rage ordered the cancellation of all benefits to all funds.
These were the Kamkov All-Russian Educational Fund, the Likhanov Children's Fund, the Cultural Fund, the Tarpishchev Sports Fund and the OSCC MP. Maybe the Chernobyl and Afghan foundations were also mentioned.
The Cultural Foundation was half-dead and did not engage in business. At first, the Sports Fund also imported excise goods, but then switched to importing expensive furniture for new Russian villas. The presidential ban hit everyone, and then the heads of the remaining funds went to Metropolitan. Kirill with a request: Bishop, we don’t work with excise taxes, and therefore the difficulties arose only because of you. Could you, in a Christian way, ask the president not to punish other people because of you. To which they received an answer in the spirit of “we must be united: we worked together, we will stop together.”
***
Among my parishioners in the church on Presnya in those years there was a man who picked up cigarettes from the Danilov Monastery and delivered them to various points. In Riga, I talked with a Russian loader, who himself unloaded the corresponding containers with the address “Danilov Monastery, DECR.”
After the death of Patriarch Alexy, the right people put pressure on the Minister of Tax Collection, Pochinok, and he said that letters to the government asking for preferential import of cigarettes and alcohol were signed by Patriarch Alexy.
V. VARFOLOMEEV - Did you name the names of those who opposed and who lobbied for those decisions?
A. POCHINOK - Look, in fact, all the papers are there, they can be easily viewed. All documents. Both in the church and in the government apparatus. Who lobbied? Yes, there was first an official appeal from the patriarch. But I understand him perfectly; he really didn’t have any sources for the normal existence of the church at that time, and he applied. But I understand Alexy perfectly. He was looking for a source of income.
Who walked further? The chairman of the humanitarian aid headquarters was then Metropolitan Kliment. He participated in the creation of JSCB Peresvet, a commercial bank. To be honest, we fought seriously with him. Then there was a funny story with the “Holy Spring” water, there was such a wonderful tax-free water, and we fought with it for two years until we won. By the way, I will now reassure radio listeners, now it is fully taxable, everything has been fine there for almost 10 years. Then there was a patriarchal commission on humanitarian assistance, and then in December it was transformed into a commission on economic and humanitarian issues, and it was again commanded by Clement. And he was also a member of the government commission on humanitarian assistance as the head of the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church for this humanitarian assistance.
Russian people are smart people. They immediately came up with some wonderful schemes related to humanitarian aid. And these schemes were simple. We send, under the guise of humanitarian aid, something that poor people do not particularly consume. Humanitarian aid, excisable goods, tobacco, alcohol, and very good Mercedes. They are sending, they say, an ambulance, what is it? It's a 600 Mercedes, and there's a red cross stuck on it with duct tape. Then it comes off and everything is fine. And therefore, indeed, the first gaps, and the first holes of the meeting of our government commission on humanitarian aid and the commission of the Ministry of Health, and the Russian Bureau of Humanitarian Aid, the holes were connected with something - they did not learn to catch these flaws. They have not learned to see humanitarian aid as the so-called real import of duty-free goods, which were consumed or sold in a wonderful way by the right people. And therefore, three times, think about it, three times the government commission on humanitarian aid had to be reformed until order was restored. And when Sysuev first arrived, and when Matvienko came later, then this was reduced to absolute zero.
V. VARFOLOMEEV - Alexander Petrovich, you mentioned Metropolitan Clement. Here is Alexander, our listener asks: what about Metropolitan Kirill. Then the press in the 90s - by the way, I remember well - associated all this tobacco and alcohol with Metropolitan Kirill. And he was called the “vodka metropolitan,” sorry.
A. POCHINOK - Correct. And it came from an article, in my opinion, in Moskovsky Komsomolets, around the beginning of 1997, and I remember very well, there were materials that the press service gave me at one time, there was a press conference, I wanted to say in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior , it didn’t exist then. In the Danilov Monastery. And there were questions for Kirill, very detailed questions on this topic. Apparently, then there was already an attack on a person. And then he answered them quite harshly. And in fact, during my work, I have not seen a single document in this area related to Kirill, not a single appeal from him. And I believe that back in 1997 he quite clearly dotted all the i’s.
At the Press Conference following the results of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Kirill explained to those gathered that the Russian Church has a Commission for Humanitarian Aid, to which Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians from all over the world send whatever they can. Among the things that come with humanitarian aid, there are some that the Church cannot use for their intended purpose. For example, hundreds of engines from refrigerators, window frames and blocks, and, finally, cigarettes. They can be sent back to donors. Or you can agree on the issue with the Government and transfer cigarettes to secular trade, which is what was done. Part of the proceeds was sent to the central church budget for general church needs. (“Orthodox Moscow”, No. 8-9, March 1997)
***
“The mission of saving the Russian Orthodox Church from poverty was not the monopoly of Metropolitan Kirill exclusively. Other hierarchs, on behalf of the Patriarch, were also forced to deal with financial issues.
For example, back on December 19, 1995, the director of the Sofrino enterprise of the Russian Orthodox Church appealed to the government Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance with a request to allow “the import of alcoholic beverages from abroad as part of humanitarian assistance in the amount of twenty million US dollars without collecting customs duties and with the right to further sale on the domestic market."
And six months later, Archbishop (and future Metropolitan) Clement, together with the abbot of the St. Nicholas Ugresh Monastery Veniamin and Bishop Arseny of Istra, made a similar request to the government. They asked to recognize a shipment of wine (12,000,000 bottles), liquor (6,000,000 bottles) and other strong drinks (another 30,000,000 bottles), “received free of charge from the Greek organization Kalkon Group, as a cargo of humanitarian aid.” On July 16, 1996, the government commission decided to support the appeal and “allow the sale of up to 80% of these goods through the economic and commercial division of the St. Nicholas Ugreshsky Monastery.”
http://sobesednik.ru/publications/sobesednik/2008/12/50/kolokol_history
***
Letter of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation dated March 22, 1996 N 01-29/5202 “On the import of tobacco products by the Moscow Patriarchate”
“I inform you that in accordance with the letter of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance under the Government of the Russian Federation dated 02/07/96 N 124 k, the State Customs Committee of Russia considers it possible to continue customs clearance of tobacco products imported by the Moscow Patriarchate as humanitarian aid. Letter of the State Customs Committee of Russia dated February 28, 1996 N 01-23/3601 shall be declared invalid.”
Deputy Chairman of the Committee S.M. Bekov
Telegram of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation dated August 28, 1996 N T-17971
“Until November 15, 1996, carry out customs clearance with the use of benefits for the payment of customs duties, VAT and other fees for church wine, subject to labeling and recognized as humanitarian aid by a previously adopted decision of the commission (extract dated March 26, 1995 N 35), imported by the KhPP in terms of volumes of goods, for which excise duty stamps were purchased before 08/03/96.”
First Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Russia V.F. Kruglikov
Telegram of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation dated September 17, 1996 N T-19495
“In accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 12, 1996 N VCh-P2-31286, until further instructions from the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation, I authorize customs clearance of cigarettes arriving in accordance with the decision of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance dated 07/08/96 N 185 to the Headquarters of Humanitarian Aid of the Moscow Patriarchate and marked with excise duty stamps (purchased before 08/03/96).
Customs clearance should be carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the order of the State Customs Committee of Russia dated March 15, 1996? 142 (without actual payment of customs duties and VAT)
First Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation V.F. Kruglikov
LETTER OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF THE RF DATED 01.10.96 N 11-01-08 ABOUT ISSUES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
In connection with the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance of Russia requests to provide extracts from the minutes of the meeting of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance for
Government of the Russian Federation dated 07/08/94 N 25 and dated 03/26/96 N 35.
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Finance asks to provide information on the volume of supplies of excisable goods received by the Russian Orthodox Church, on the size of quotas and on the amounts of customs duties and VAT not received by the federal budget in connection with the decision to set quotas for excisable goods.
First Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia A.P. VAVILOV
LETTER OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF THE RF DATED 04.11.96 N 11-01-08 ON THE PROVISION OF CUSTOMS BENEFITS
In accordance with the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation (VCh-P2-31286 dated September 12, 1996 and VCh-P2-33455 dated October 6, 1996), the Russian Ministry of Finance considered the request of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy to prohibit customs clearance of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages as humanitarian aid and reports the following.
The minutes of the meeting of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance under the Government of the Russian Federation dated 07/08/94 N 25 determined the volume of supplies of tobacco products in the amount of 50 thousand tons and the protocol dated 03/26/96 N 35 - church wine in the amount of 112.3 million liters .
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 18, 1996 N 816 “On benefits for the payment of customs duties in relation to goods imported into the customs territory of the Russian Federation as humanitarian aid” established that benefits for the payment of customs duties in relation to goods imported into the customs territory of the Russian Federation as humanitarian aid, do not apply to excisable goods, as well as goods imported under foreign trade agreements (contracts) providing for payment for these goods by Russian persons.
In this regard, in accordance with the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation (OD-P2-27864 dated 08/07/96), the Ministry of Finance of Russia considered the request of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy for the opportunity to accept excisable goods as humanitarian aid within the framework established by the Commission on International Humanitarian Aid and technical assistance from the Government of the Russian Federation.
Considering the limited expenditure side of the budget of the Russian Orthodox Church and the impossibility of paying all due customs duties (excise taxes, VAT and customs duties), and also taking into account that the Russian Orthodox Church, while restoring its monasteries, temples, churches and parishes, destroyed over many years and during the war, experiencing financial difficulties, and at the same time she is widely engaged in charitable activities, the Russian Ministry of Finance, as an exception, supported the request of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy for the opportunity to accept excisable goods as humanitarian aid within the established quota.
However, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated September 18, 1996 N 1363 “On strengthening budget discipline in terms of customs payments” established that the financing of social programs and any other activities by providing benefits on customs payments in a manner different from that provided for by the customs legislation of the Russian Federation, not allowed.
According to calculations by the State Customs Committee of Russia, based on the nomenclature of imported goods and rates of duties and taxes, the amount of benefits provided as of October 15, 1996 in relation to 18 billion cigarettes issued amounted to 830 billion rubles, in relation to 21 million liters of wine issued - 242 billion rubles.
Taking into account the above, as well as the request of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy to prohibit customs clearance of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages as humanitarian aid, the Russian Ministry of Finance considers it necessary to cancel the decisions of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance under the Government of the Russian Federation dated 07/08/94 N 25 and 03/26/96 N 35.
First Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation A.P. VAVILOV
Telegram of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation dated November 18, 1996 N T-23541
“To suspend from November 18, 1996 the exemption from duties and taxes on tobacco products and wine imported as humanitarian aid to the Moscow Patriarchate and the KhPP
“...the amount of benefits provided as of October 15, 1996 in relation to 18 billion cigarettes issued amounted to 830 billion rubles, in relation to 21 million liters of wine issued - 242 billion rubles.”
***
One of the conspiracy theories of those years: KGB veterans, who previously supervised the Patriarchate, turned to their wards with a “farewell request”: We, they say, will give you papers compromising you, but you will provide us and our friends with a good tax-free business.
***
It’s unlikely that anyone saw where this money went from the supposedly “central church budget.”
If only 20 years later they could open the documents and show: this is the money received for tobacco and wine, this is how it was spent... Then one could consider what happened not an abomination, but simply a mistake.
Caricature of Patriarch Kirill distributed on the Internet
Surely you read on the Internet that Patriarch Kirill is a tobacco metropolitan, and the Russian Orthodox Church has earned billions of dollars from the trade in cigarettes and alcohol. Here are 10 facts that will somewhat clarify these questions for you:
- The churches of the Russian Orthodox Church have never sold cigarettes or other tobacco products.
- Quotas on the import of excisable goods in the 1990s were a way for the state to provide support to non-profit organizations, such as the Russian Foundation for Disabled Persons of the War in Afghanistan, the National Sports Foundation, and the 50th Anniversary of Victory Foundation. Benefits for the Russian Orthodox Church were introduced in 1996 at the request of Patriarch Alexy
- The import of goods, including tobacco and alcohol products, was carried out by structures under the auspices of the Nika charitable foundation and the Humanitarian Aid Headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- Already in the same 1996, the benefits were canceled, again at the request of Patriarch Alexy. LETTER OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF THE RF DATED 04.11.96 N 11-01-08 ON THE PROVISION OF CUSTOMS BENEFITS
In accordance with the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation (VCh-P2-31286 dated September 12, 1996 and VCh-P2-33455 dated October 6, 1996) The Ministry of Finance of Russia considered the request of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy to prohibit customs clearance of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages as humanitarian aid and reports the following.
……
Taking into account the above, as well as request of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy to prohibit customs clearance of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages as humanitarian aid, The Ministry of Finance of Russia considers it necessary to cancel the decisions of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance under the Government of the Russian Federation dated 07/08/94 N 25 and 03/26/96 N 35.
First Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation A.P. VAVILOV
- A. Pochinok, who was the head of the Russian tax service at that time, said on the radio station “Echo of Moscow” that “During my work, I have not seen a single document in this area related to Kirill, not a single appeal from him.”
- The topic was raised in 1997 by a series of articles by journalist S. Bychkov in Moskovsky Komsomolets, where the Church was accused of trafficking in tobacco, and Metropolitan Kirill was called the “tobacco metropolitan”, “Kundyaev”, “Moscow Pope” and “Russian Caesar Borgia”
- A video filmed with a hidden camera has been posted on the Youtube channel, in which MK journalists take money for writing custom articles. S. Bychkov takes money specifically for writing an article about Metropolitan Kirill.
- Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin and religious scholar R. A. Silantyev repeatedly filed suits for libel against Sergei Bychkov and won in court.
- After the election of Metropolitan Kirill as Patriarch of All Rus', S. Bychkov changed his opinion: “The topic is exhausted: Metropolitan Kirill has become patriarch. The Patriarch is a public figure, the head of the Russian Church... “The Patriarch is the Patriarch. If I consider myself an Orthodox Christian, then he is also my patriarch.”
- As Metropolitan Hilarion testifies, Metropolitan Kirill did not want to sue S. Bychkov because “even if the court proves the groundlessness of the accusations and obliges the newspaper to publish a refutation of the slander, during the time the trial lasted, so much dirt will be poured onto the Church that the damage caused to the Church will be even greater.”
Start of business V.M. Gundyaev was founded in 1992-1994. The most extensive dossier on this business was compiled by Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Bychkov, who published dozens of articles, mainly about the tobacco business of the future patriarch. None of his publications were officially refuted; in many ways, Kirill admitted that the facts collected by Bychkov were true.
In addition to the villa in Switzerland, the Tobacco Ski-Patriarch has palaces in Peredelkino, in the Danilov Monastery, in Gelendzhik, next to Putin’s palace, and a penthouse with a terrace in the House on the Embankment - overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior:
About how the High Priest of Putin’s Reich, Patriarch Kirill (he is already a KGB agent Mikhailov), amassed his billion-dollar capital on speculation in tobacco, alcohol and oil (exempt from taxes and excise taxes) in the dashing 90s, how he, the head of the gangster empire of the Russian Orthodox Church, eliminated and eliminated its competitors, many have already written.
Cigarettes
In 1993, with the participation of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Nika financial and trading group arose, the vice-president of which was Archpriest Vladimir Veriga, commercial director of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR MP), which was headed by Kirill. A year later, under the Government of the Russian Federation and under the DECR MP, two “parallel” commissions on humanitarian aid appeared: the first decided what aid could be exempt from taxes and excise taxes, and the second imported this aid through the church and sold it to commercial structures. Thus, most tax-exempt aid was distributed through the regular trade network, at regular market prices. Through this channel, in 1996 alone, the DECR MP imported about 8 billion cigarettes into the country (data from the government commission on humanitarian aid).
This caused serious damage to the “tobacco kings” of that time, who were forced to pay duties and excise taxes and therefore lost in the competition of the DECR MP; it is believed that they “ordered” an information campaign to expose Kirill’s business. According to Bychkov, when Kirill decided to leave this business, more than $50 million worth of “church” cigarettes remained in customs warehouses. During the criminal war, in particular, an assistant to deputy Zhirinovsky, a certain Zen, was killed for these cigarettes.
And here is a letter from the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation to the Moscow Customs Administration dated February 8, 1997, regarding “church” cigarettes: “In connection with the appeal of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance under the Government of the Russian Federation and the decision of the Chairman of the Government dated January 29, 1997 No. VC-P22/38 authorizes customs clearance of tobacco products in the prescribed manner with payment only of excise duty that entered the customs territory before 01/01/97, in accordance with the decision of the above-mentioned Commission.”
So, in fact, since then Metropolitan Kirill has been assigned a new title - “Tobacco” (however, now he is no longer called that). Now it is customary to call it “Skineg” - thanks to the light hand of Orthodox bloggers, who drew attention to the enormous importance in the life and work of Kirill of his passion for alpine skiing (this hobby is served by a villa in Switzerland and a private jet, and in Krasnaya Polyana it helps to consolidate informal relationships with powerful of this world).
What adds piquancy to Kirill’s tobacco business is the fact that in Orthodoxy smoking is considered a sin: it is actually detrimental to human health and life. Kirill himself tried to justify his participation in this business: “The people who were involved in this did not know what to do: burn these cigarettes or send them back? We turned to the government, and it made a decision: recognize this as a humanitarian cargo and provide the opportunity to implement it.” Government representatives categorically denied this information, after which Patriarch Alexy II liquidated the DECR MP commission and created a new ROC MP Commission on humanitarian assistance, headed by Bishop Alexy (Frolov).
Oil
But let us return to the “dashing years” when the “curvature of our history” arose. In addition to the aforementioned Nika Fund, DECR MP was then the founder of the commercial bank Peresvet, JSC International Economic Cooperation (IEC), JSC Free People's Television (SNT) and a number of other structures. Kirill’s most profitable business after 1996 was the export of oil through the MES, which was exempt from customs duties at the request of Alexy II. Kirill was represented at the MES by Bishop Victor (Pyankov), who now lives as a private citizen in the USA. The company's annual turnover in 1997 was about $2 billion.
Due to the confidentiality of this information, it is now difficult to understand whether Kirill continues to participate in the oil business, but there is one very eloquent fact. A few days before the start of the US military operation against Saddam Hussein, Kirill’s deputy, Bishop Feofan (Ashurkov), flew to Iraq.
Seafood
According to Portal-Credo.Ru, in 2000, information was made public about Metropolitan Kirill’s attempts to penetrate the market of marine biological resources (caviar, crabs, seafood) - the relevant government structures allocated quotas for catching Kamchatka fish to the company established by the hierarch (JSC Region). crab and shrimp (total volume - more than 4 thousand tons). According to Kaliningrad journalists, Metropolitan Kirill, as the ruling bishop of the ROC MP diocese in the Kaliningrad region, participated in an automobile joint venture in Kaliningrad. It is characteristic that Kirill, even after becoming patriarch, did not appoint a diocesan bishop to the Kaliningrad see, leaving it under his direct control.
Luxury
In 2004, Nikolai Mitrokhin, a researcher at the Center for Shadow Economy Research at the Russian State University for the Humanities, published a monograph on the shadow economic activities of the Russian Orthodox Church MP. The value of the assets controlled by Metropolitan Kirill was estimated in this work at $1.5 billion. Two years later, journalists from Moscow News tried to count the assets of the head of the church Ministry of Foreign Affairs and came to the conclusion that they already amounted to $4 billion.
And according to The New Times, in 2002, Metropolitan Kirill bought a penthouse in the “House on the Embankment” overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This, by the way, is “the only apartment in Moscow registered specifically in the name of the metropolitan by his secular surname Gundyaev, about which there is a corresponding entry in the cadastral register.”
Another attribute of this life that has become the subject of widespread discussion is a Breguet watch worth about 30 thousand euros, which Ukrainian journalists photographed on the patriarch’s left hand next to the monastic rosary. This happened the day after Kirill pompously broadcast live on the main Ukrainian television channels: “It is very important to learn Christian asceticism... Asceticism is the ability to regulate one’s consumption... This is a person’s victory over lust, over passions, over instinct. And it is important that both rich and poor possess this quality.”
The luxurious motorcades of Patriarch Kirill and the security services from the Federal Protective Service that he uses have become the talk of the town. In Moscow, when the patriarch is driving, all the streets along his route are blocked, which naturally causes mass indignation among car owners. In Ukraine, Kirill’s half-kilometer motorcades completely shocked local residents: in the neighboring country, even the president travels much more modestly.
We must, however, give Kirill his due: for official visits he charters planes from Transaero, and uses his personal fleet only for personal purposes.
A separate and almost inexhaustible topic is the palaces and residences of the patriarch. Kirill strives to keep up with the top officials of the state in this matter. The newly built palace in Peredelkino was considered his permanent residential residence, for which several houses of local residents were demolished. From the windows of trains in the Kyiv direction, it looks like a large Russian tower - like the Terem Palace in the Kremlin. Kirill doesn’t like living there: the railway passing next door worries him. Therefore, the current patriarch ordered to redecorate the palace in the Danilov Monastery, which did not look poor before. The construction of the patriarchal palace in Gelendzhik, next to the legendary “Putin’s palace” in Praskoveevka, was not without scandals. As in the case of Putin, the patriarch’s palace primarily aroused the indignation of local environmentalists: it was built on the territory of a nature reserve, during construction many trees listed in the Red Book were cut down, and the palace territory blocked access to the sea for local residents. There are patriarchal residences in all more or less large monasteries in Russia.
Export of capital is blessed
But let's return to the Danilov Monastery. After the head of Putin’s headquarters, Govorukhin, uttered wonderful, highly spiritual words that under Putin, corruption in Russia has finally acquired civilized forms, it no longer seems strange that Patriarch Kirill welcomes the outflow of capital from Russia (after all, his own savings are not kept in his homeland) . “The fact,” Kirill told Putin, “that today in Spain, when it is one of the prosperous countries, real estate is being sold en masse by Spaniards and bought en masse by Russians is a very good signal to the whole world. A country that is poor, that is in crisis, cannot afford what rich countries do not allow today.”
The phrase, although confusing, is clear that, from a Christian point of view, we must identify the “beautiful life” of the nouveau riche abroad with the glory and wealth of our country.
As Kirill prophesies, “Sergianism” (the policy of complete subordination of the Church to power), which the Chekist Putin spoke so warmly about in his speech, is once again demonstrating its advantages over Christian confession and martyrdom. To which the patriarch, whose earthly life is protected by FSO employees, can hardly strive so much.
The wealth of Patriarch Kirill: how the head of the Russian Orthodox Church earned capital. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' did not waste time in vain in the nineties: his professional portfolio includes the organization of tobacco, oil, automobile and food businesses. According to various estimates, all this hectic activity brought the head of the Russian Orthodox Church capital of 1.5-4 billion dollars. Now the patriarch has at his disposal an apartment in the famous “House on the Embankment”, a Breguet watch worth about 30 thousand euros, palaces in Peredelkino and Gelendzhik, as well as a personal fleet. Novaya Gazeta published on its pages incriminating evidence against the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, in to the world - Gundyaev Vladimir Mikhailovich. According to the newspaper, in the 90s, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, being a modest head of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR MP), was actively engaged in business, thanks to which he made a fortune of several billion. Yes, not rubles, but dollars.
The patriarch's business career began in 1993. Then, with the participation of the Moscow Patriarchate, the financial and trading group “Nika” arose, the vice-president of which was Archpriest Vladimir Veriga, commercial director of the DECR MP. A year later, under the government of the Russian Federation and at the same time in the OSCC, two commissions on humanitarian aid appeared: the first decided what assistance could be exempt from taxes and excise taxes, and the second imported this assistance through the church and sold it to commercial structures. Thus, most tax-exempt aid was distributed through the regular trade network, at regular market prices.
Through this channel, in 1996 alone, the DECR imported about 8 billion cigarettes into the country (data from the government commission on humanitarian aid). This caused serious damage to the “tobacco kings” of that time, who were forced to pay duties and excise taxes and therefore lost in the competition of the DECR MP.
According to Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Bychkov, who published several articles about the patriarch’s tobacco business, when Kirill decided to leave this business, more than $50 million worth of “church” cigarettes remained in customs warehouses. During the criminal war, in particular, an assistant to deputy Zhirinovsky, a certain Zen, was killed for these cigarettes.
And here is a letter from the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation to the Moscow Customs Administration dated February 8, 1997, regarding “church” cigarettes: “In connection with the appeal of the Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance under the Government of the Russian Federation and the decision of the Chairman of the Government dated January 29, 1997 No. VC-P22/38 authorizes customs clearance of tobacco products in the prescribed manner with payment only of excise duty that entered the customs territory before 01/01/97, in accordance with the decision of the above-mentioned Commission.”
So, in fact, since then, Metropolitan Kirill has been given a new title - “Tabacchi”, writes Novaya Gazeta, clarifying that now he is no longer given that title. Now the patriarch is usually called “Skiner” - thanks to the light hand of Orthodox bloggers, who drew attention to the enormous importance in the life and work of Kirill of his passion for alpine skiing (this hobby is served by a villa in Switzerland and a private plane, and in Krasnaya Polyana it helps to consolidate informal relationships with powerful of this world).
By the way, Kirill himself once tried to justify his participation in the tobacco business: “The people who were involved in this did not know what to do: burn these cigarettes or send them back? We turned to the government, and it made a decision: recognize this as a humanitarian cargo and provide the opportunity to implement it.” Government representatives categorically denied this information, after which Patriarch Alexy II liquidated the DECR MP commission and created a new ROC MP Commission on humanitarian assistance, headed by Bishop Alexy (Frolov).
In addition to the aforementioned Nika Fund, DECR MP was the founder of the commercial bank Peresvet, JSC International Economic Cooperation (IEC), JSC Free People's Television (SNT) and a number of other structures. Kirill’s most profitable business after 1996 was the export of oil through the MES, which was exempt from customs duties at the request of Alexy II. Kirill was represented at the MES by Bishop Victor (Pyankov), who now lives as a private citizen in the USA. The company's annual turnover in 1997 was about $2 billion.
Due to the confidentiality of this information, it is now difficult to understand whether Kirill continues to participate in the oil business, but there is one very eloquent fact. A few days before the start of the US military operation against Saddam Hussein, Kirill’s deputy, Bishop Feofan (Ashurkov), flew to Iraq.
In 2000, information was made public about Metropolitan Kirill’s attempts to penetrate the market of marine biological resources (caviar, crabs, seafood) - the relevant government structures allocated quotas for catching Kamchatka crab and shrimp to the company established by the hierarch (JSC Region) (total volume - more than 4 thousand tons).
According to Kaliningrad journalists, Metropolitan Kirill, as the ruling bishop of the ROC MP diocese in the Kaliningrad region, participated in an automobile joint venture in Kaliningrad. It is characteristic that Kirill, even after becoming patriarch, did not appoint a diocesan bishop to the Kaliningrad see, leaving it under his direct control.
In 2004, Nikolai Mitrokhin, a researcher at the Center for Shadow Economy Research at the Russian State University for the Humanities, published a monograph on the shadow economic activities of the Russian Orthodox Church MP. The value of the assets controlled by Metropolitan Kirill was estimated in this work at $1.5 billion. Two years later, journalists from Moscow News tried to count the assets of the head of the church Ministry of Foreign Affairs and came to the conclusion that they already totaled $4 billion.
And according to The New Times, in 2002, Metropolitan Kirill bought a penthouse in the “House on the Embankment” overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This, by the way, is “the only apartment in Moscow registered specifically in the name of the metropolitan by his secular surname Gundyaev, about which there is a corresponding entry in the cadastral register.”
Another attribute of this life that has become the subject of widespread discussion is a Breguet watch worth about 30 thousand euros, which Ukrainian journalists photographed on the patriarch’s left hand next to the monastic rosary. This happened the day after Kirill pompously broadcast live on the main Ukrainian television channels: “It is very important to learn Christian asceticism... Asceticism is the ability to regulate one’s consumption... This is a person’s victory over lust, over passions, over instinct. And it is important that both rich and poor possess this quality.”
The luxurious motorcades of Patriarch Kirill and the security services from the Federal Protective Service that he uses have become the talk of the town. In Moscow, when the patriarch is driving, all the streets along his route are blocked, which naturally causes mass indignation among car owners. In Ukraine, Kirill’s half-kilometer motorcades completely shocked local residents: in the neighboring country, even the president travels much more modestly.
We must, however, give Kirill his due: for official visits he charters planes from Transaero, and uses his personal fleet only for personal purposes.
A separate and almost inexhaustible topic is the palaces and residences of the patriarch. Kirill strives to keep up with the top officials of the state in this matter. The newly built palace in Peredelkino was considered his permanent residential residence, for which several houses of local residents were demolished. From the windows of trains in the Kyiv direction, it looks like a large Russian tower - like the Terem Palace in the Kremlin. Kirill doesn’t like living there: the railway passing next door worries him.
Therefore, the current patriarch ordered to redecorate the palace in the Danilov Monastery, which did not look poor before. The construction of the patriarchal palace in Gelendzhik was not without scandals, which primarily aroused the indignation of local environmentalists.
The scandal surrounding the patriarch’s Gelendzhik dacha first broke out a year ago, when activists from the “Ecological Watch” in the North Caucasus entered the territory of the facility under construction. During the inspection, they found out that at least 10 hectares of a unique forest are enclosed by a three-meter fence, and in the center there is a strange “pretentious” building, topped with domes - something between a temple and a mansion.
At the same time, according to Novaya Gazeta, in 2004 the Russian Orthodox Church received at its disposal a plot of land with an area of only 2 hectares. Moreover, this land belonged to the Forest Fund; accordingly, it was prohibited by law to erect permanent buildings on this land. However, large-scale construction began here. Environmentalists claim that during construction, 5 to 10 hectares of valuable forest were cut down, which is confirmed by images from space.
The Russian Orthodox Church hastened to refute the arguments of the “greens”. The Moscow Patriarchate referred to the act of Rospotrebnadzor, according to which no facts of illegal logging were recorded on the territory of the Spiritual and Cultural Center. Environmentalists, in turn, point to the fact that the document was drawn up in December 2010 - that is, several years after the destruction of the forest.
Another scandal surrounding the patriarch’s dacha, again initiated by environmentalists, broke out in October of last year. Then activists said that the fire that broke out at the end of September of the same year on the territory of the Spiritual and Cultural Center of the Moscow Patriarchate could have been the result of arson. As Novaya noted then, according to the law, builders are required to pay monetary compensation in the hundreds of thousands of rubles for destroyed trees. And if the trees burned down in a fire, then payment of compensation can be avoided.
At the beginning of 2011, information appeared in the press that the Russian Orthodox Church facility under construction near Gelendzhik was nothing more than a dacha for the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill. However, the information department of the Moscow Patriarchate refuted these arguments, saying that the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church in southern Russia is being built on this site, along with the existing centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
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