Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys says the country's services must curb the activities of Russian special services and their influence in the Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese.
He said this after intelligence agencies noted in their national security threat assessment report that the Vilnius and Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese remains dependent on the Moscow Patriarchate, despite its stated desire for autonomy.
"We must curb the activities of Russian special services within this organization. If it were a company that wanted to invest in a strategic sector, and we were checking its compliance with national security interests, it would not be able to own assets near our strategic facilities due to ties with Russian services and direct influence," the head of Lithuanian diplomacy stated on Monday in the 'LRT Forum' program.
"The fact that there is an organization seeking to exert influence, we must delicately remove those individuals who are there," he said.
The President's Chief Advisor on National Security, Deividas Matulionis, stated that it would be "too bold" to claim that the entire Orthodox Church in Lithuania poses a national security threat.
"If we are talking about sabotage, destabilization, then it is not the Orthodox Church, but those figures who facilitate recruitment, so that would be the target of our intelligence agencies. (...) If there are individuals in the Church who are involved in this, it is necessary to appropriately curb and initiate cases against them, but a priori to say that the entire Church (is a national security threat – BNS), in my personal opinion, would be too bold," Matulionis said.
As reported by BNS, the document prepared by the State Security Department and the Second Department of Operational Services indicates that the Orthodox Church plays a significant role in shaping and maintaining the ideological narratives of the Russian regime.
According to intelligence, due to the strictly hierarchical structure, the Moscow Patriarchate exerts significant influence over its subordinate dioceses abroad.
Support from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow for Russia's war against Ukraine prompted some clergy of the Vilnius and Lithuanian Orthodox Diocese, which is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, to express disagreement with the military aggression against Ukraine.
In response to public and believer pressure, the diocese's leadership publicly condemned the war and repeatedly stated its desire for greater independence from the Moscow Patriarchate; however, according to intelligence, no significant changes have occurred in this area.
Although the diocese's leadership has appealed to the Moscow Patriarchate for partial autonomy status, no decision has been made so far.
According to intelligence assessments, the Vilnius and Lithuanian Diocese seeks partial autonomy status only to avoid public criticism due to its dependence on the Moscow Patriarchate while remaining fully under its influence.
