Løkke didn’t block grants from Moscow to churches in DK

In March 2023, officials at the Center for Documentation and Efforts Against Extremism (CDE), which is part of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, wanted to blacklist the Danish-Russian Orthodox Church and thus stop the flow of money from Moscow to three churches in Denmark, according to an article in Jyllands-Posten. A leaked document in the case shows that Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen put an end to the blacklisting, the newspaper reports. According to Jyllands-Posten, this happened because of fear of the Russian reaction. According to the newspaper, a leaked document shows that the foreign minister was nervous that “the inclusion of the Moscow Patriarchate on the ban list could lead to significant negative foreign policy consequences for Denmark, including in relation to countries other than Russia”.
The Russian Orthodox Church is formally called the Moscow Patriarchate and is headed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Patriarch Kirill does not believe that with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia attacked the neighboring country, but simply defended its borders. The churches of the religious community in Denmark are located in Sydhavnen in Copenhagen and in Hobro. On the island of Bågø in the Little Belt there is a monastery, which also serves as a church. From 2018 to 2021, the three places received a total of DKK 895,735 from the Moscow Patriarchate, writes Jyllands-Posten. In 2022, donations stopped. According to the newspaper, it is not clear from the accounts why. /ritzau/