Russian Orthodox Church transfers ownership of its church in Karlovy Vary to Hungary to avoid asset freeze
The Russian Orthodox Church has transferred ownership of it assets in Karlovy Vary to its Hungarian branch so as to prevent the Czech state freezing them. This includes ownership of the Church of Sts Peter and Paul which now falls under the Metropolitan Emeritus of Budapest and Hungary.
For years, Russia had a strong presence in the West Bohemian spa town of Karlovy Vary, where Russians owned homes, hotels and restaurants. In recent decades that presence diminished, particularly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Czechia’s decision to approve its own version of the US Magnitsky Act enabling it to impose sanctions against individuals and legal entities for serious violations of Czech and international law.
Under the Czech version of the Magnitsky law, Czechia can impose sanctions against individuals in the interest of national security, protection of human rights and combatting terrorism.
The first name placed on the national sanctions list by the Czech government was that of Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Kirill’s inclusion on the list means that he is barred from entering Czechia, any assets he has in the country have been frozen and he cannot undertake any financial transactions here.
In 2023 the Czech government also moved to freeze Russian state-owned property on Czech territory by placing the company that manages these assets on its national sanctions list. The move was to guarantee that income generated by the company in this country will not be used to finance the war in Ukraine.
Last year Nikolai Lishchenyuk, an Orthodox priest at the Church of Sts Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary was expelled from Czechia, and later stripped of the city’s honorary citizenship, over suspicions of hostile activities and espionage, including supporting separatist movements within the EU.
Fearing an asset freeze the Russian Orthodox Church, a sub-council of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia in the Czech Republic, swiftly transferred its ownership of the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary to the Hungarian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, a friendly offshoot of the same institution.
Experts who had warned that a transfer of assets was on the cards have expressed disappointment that it was not prevented and the assets were not frozen in time.
As of this year, the new head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic is Bishop Hilarion, whose lay name is Grigory Valeriyevich Alfeyev, Metropolitan Emeritus of Budapest and Hungary.
