A citizen of Lithuania, an Old Believer priest, has been detained in Belarus while attending religious events of the local community. Lithuanian authorities have confirmed the detention, but the Belarusian side has not yet provided official comments.
A citizen of Lithuania, an Old Believer priest, has been detained in the Poshchupovo district of Belarus. This was reported by the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT.
According to the portal, the detention occurred in the village of Kuklyany during a service on the holiday of Trinity. The priest came to Belarus to participate in events of the local Old Believer community.
Unofficial sources suggest that the reason for the detention may be suspicions related to possible document forgery during the registration of the religious community. However, there is currently no official confirmation of this information.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it has received information about the detention of a Lithuanian citizen. At the same time, the agency refused to disclose the identity of the detained individual, citing personal data protection requirements.
Evgeny Grigoryev, the secretary of the Supreme Council of the Ancient Orthodox Pomorian Church of Lithuania and deputy chairman of the Vilnius Old Believer community, stated that the detained individual is well-known in the Old Believer community and was previously associated with the Perelozskaya community.
For Lithuanian authorities, such cases traditionally require consular support and clarification of the circumstances of the detention of citizens abroad.
It remains unclear whether any charges have been brought against the priest and what his current procedural status is. Belarusian state authorities have not yet published official information about the detention, so many circumstances of the incident remain unknown.
Additional information is expected to emerge following official comments from the Belarusian authorities or the diplomatic services of Lithuania.
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