Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denies banning entry to Metropolitan Hilarion

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has denied being involved in banning entry to Ukraine to Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk who chairs the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations.

"In this instance, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has nothing to do with this (ban)," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevgeny Perebyinis said at a briefing.

He declined to comment on this decision, saying these issues were outside the ministry's remit. "The right to let someone in or not belongs to the border service which operates on the basis of relevant requests, if any, from the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities," Perebyinis said.

As we informed earlier, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, arrived in Dnipropetrovsk on May 9 to take part in the celebrations dedicated to the jubilee of the esteemed hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Iriney of Dnipropetrovsk who was celebrating his 75th birthday.

At the border control, Metropolitan Hilarion was detained. The DECR chairman got an official notification which forbade him from entering Ukraine. No reasons were given for the ban.