To avoid any negative consequences for Kyiv Patriarchate buildings and clergy, Igor “Strelkov” Girkin - the former military commander who played a key role in Crimea and Donbas in 2014 - gave Archbishop Kliment a document guaranteeing the safety of church property. It warned that any attempts to illegally seize any property belonging to the church and its clergy would be dealt with, and gave Archbishop Kliment the right to direct contact with Crimea’s self-proclaimed head Sergey Aksenov. The document expired at the end of spring 2014.

“On 9 March 2014, [unknown armed persons in camouflage] detained [Crimean Euromaidan activists] Andrey Shchekun and Anton Kovalsky. We didn’t know where and in what state they were,” Archbishop Kliment told me. “On 19 March, I spoke out on live on Echo Moscow radio about what was happening in Crimea, and the next day I had a phone call from Strelkov. I agreed to see him at the Council of Ministers building, where he said, referring to Shchekun and Kovalsky: ‘Don’t worry, they’ll live’”.

Strelkov offered the Archbishop a safe pass, but with two conditions: not to say anything to anyone about what was happening in Crimea and to state publicly that life on the peninsula was returning to normal.

According to Archbishop Kliment, the document helped to safeguard the Church during the first months after annexation. Before Easter, the priests hung copies of Strelkov’s statement on the doors and windows of their churches, to avoid their seizure and looting.

Pressure, intimidation, arson

2014 was an especially bad year for the Kyiv Patriarchate: its number of parishes dropped to nine, with only nine priests for the entire peninsula.

The main reason for the fall in the number of parishes was the Church’s position on the demand to re-register in compliance with Russian law. The Crimean Kyiv Patriarchate was the only religious body that refused to do so. In the view of the Crimean authorities, the Church practically no longer exists: it cannot pay for its leases and utilities, open a bank account or enter into a contract.

Also, under Russian legislation, to hold a service or other religious rite, a priest has to either be a Russian citizen or have a right to permanent legal residence in Russia. Priests who don’t have Russian citizenship found themselves in a vulnerable position and completely dependent on the Crimean authorities.

Refusal to re-register, the seizure of church buildings and intimidation by Russian law enforcement have led to a gradual, systematic expulsion of the church from the peninsula. In March 2019, threatened by the physical disappearance of his diocese, Archbishop Kliment took the decision to officially register his church as a religious organisation without any links to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.