A Kremlin Target? Exiled church figure Hilarion was hit with the spying claim

“I have never worked for any intelligence [agency]it can be russian or anyone. I have never had tasks or duties or requests on their part,” said the former head of foreign relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion.

Hilarion broke his silence after a series of allegations leveled against him by a former aide.

“Working for the Church is not compatible with working for the intellect. Those are two very different identities,” he told the BBC.

Metropolitan Hil Kilana has for many years been a high-flyer in the Church and is seen as the most likely successor to Patriarch Kirill. He fell from grace very quickly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and was taken prisoner by Hungary.

No reason has been given for the cause but close observers of the Orthodox Church have no doubts. Patriarch Kirill enthusiastically accepted Vladimir Putin’s war, but Hilarion neither condoned nor opposed it.

In Putin’s Russia, where criticizing the war is a criminal offense, such a stance from a top cleric would be enough to get Hilarion out of his job.

The allegations against Hilarion began in June 2024, from 23-year-old Japanese citizen George Suzuki, who started working for him after he arrived in Budapest.

The former theology student accused him of sexual misconduct as well as working for the Russian Intelligence Agency.

He runs his own YouTube channel, and posts additional allegations using videos and audio clips recorded in Budapest.

Some of these, Hilarion says, are explained. He told the BBC he would reject each in court.

Metropolitan Hil Kilana admitted mistakes in his treatment of Suzuki, but denied sexual harassment as well as surveillance.

These are difficult moments for a man who, in his 13 years as “foreign minister” of the church, entered into a historic summit between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Cuba in 2016.

This was the first meeting between the heads of the two churches since the great schism of 1054.

Hilarion’s case was given added urgency this week when the Czech government said it was considering imposing sanctions on him in response to the allegations against him.

His position on Russia’s war in Ukraine has not changed.

“Any war is a tragedy, and the Church is always with the suffering people. That’s what I say.”

Hilarion’s supporters fear that Kremlin hardliners are now out to destroy him.

“Given the Putin regime in action, it would not be surprising if, in addition to his spectacular destruction, that his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury was also told,” the former Archbishop of Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury, his reputation in Canterbury also told, “the former archbishop of Canterbury Canterbury, started his reputation in Canterbury, started his reputation in Chanterbury, Rowan Williams, Rowan Williams told the BBC.

“The full facts remain unclear, but there is the kremlin modus operandi That’s how it’s known here. “

The BBC meets George Suzuki. He asserts that Hilarion began to be sexually harassed shortly after his arrival in Budapest.

Hilarion denies intimidation of any kind.

According to him, in August 2023, he returned to Japan to visit his family, and returned to Budapest three weeks later “a changed person”, tense, and unfriendly.

Hilarion also said that he had information that Suzuki visited Moscow in the same month.

Around this time a new character, Veronica Suzuki, enters the story – the grandmother of his assistant, who took custody of George Suzuki as a child.

He accompanied her to Budapest and stayed for several weeks in luxury hotels, paid for by Hilarion.

In January 2024, George Suzuki suddenly disappeared, then wrote to Hilarion from Japan, asking for illness and family problems.

Hilarion offered to send €2,000 (£1,760) a month, then received an email from Veronica Suzuki, in exchange for his debt “evidence” his grandson had collected.

He reported him to the Hungarian police for rape, then found that three expensive watches had been stolen, and a total of €90,000 (£79,000) in cash.

He told the police, and based on the fingerprints, DNA and Security camera of the camera, an international warrant was issued for the arrest of George Suzuki.

The stolen items were later returned, but the former Aide turned down Hilarion’s offer to have the arrest warrant against him removed.

In June 2024, Suzuki accused Hilarion of sexual harassment, appalling wealth, and most recently, with the FSB.

In a video posted on YouTube, Hilarion can be seen entering a bed where another figure is lying, apparently sleeping.

In another, Hilarion fired a pistol at a shooting range that George Suzuki said was rigged at FSB headquarters in Moscow.

In an audio clip, Hilarion can be heard openly warning his founder that things will work out for him if he leaves his service and returns to Japan.

In his interview with the BBC, Hilarion said he had evidence that the video and audio clip were made, but refused to continue.

“My lawyers have advised me not to comment publicly on any material, be it textual, visual or audio, released by journalists from [George Suzuki’s] collection, before they were examined by the court. “

“My first mistake was that I allowed him to go to Hungary,” Hilarion told the BBC. He also regretted agreeing to the “financial needs” of the family.

Despite what he describes as his hardships, Hilarion remains loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church, and to Patriarch Kirill.

He was investigated by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and in December he retired from his position as the head of the Budapest Diocese and was transferred to the Church in the Czech City of Karlovy to be different.

But the Czech government’s decision to consider imposing sanctions on him puts his future there in jeopardy and forces him to return to Russia.

“This is their freedom to decide who they want in the Czech Republic and who they don’t want,” Hilarion said. He just wanted to talk to them before they did.