A message appeared on the official Telegram channel of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) that he had been detained by the Czech police in the Czech resort of Karlovy Vary, where he was assigned by the Russian Orthodox Church to reside. The message reads:
“At the moment, Metropolitan Hilarion does not have the opportunity to personally address the channel’s subscribers. In connection with the events in Karlovy Vary, we are publishing information from the side of the defense.
On May 24, 2026, after leaving the Orthodox Church “St. First Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul” in Karlovy Vary, the car in which Metropolitan Hilarion and an accompanying cameraman were located was stopped. According to the metropolitan and his defense, the police officers did not report clear reasons for the stop, related to a possible violation of traffic rules, and immediately proceeded to search the car.
During the search of the luggage compartment, four small containers of a white substance were found. The composition, origin and nature of the substance must be established only through competent expertise.
Metropolitan Hilarion categorically denies any involvement in the illegal possession of prohibited substances and considers the incident to be a provocation.
“I have no and have never had any involvement in the illegal trafficking of narcotics. For me, as a clergyman, the very assumption of such a thing is absolutely false. I insist on a full, independent and procedurally flawless investigation of what happened,” said Metropolitan Hilarion.
Metropolitan Hilarion’s lawyer, Michal Paczowski, reported that the circumstances surrounding the car stop and the subsequent search raise serious questions. According to the lawyer, the car in which the metropolitan was located was actually met by two police cars on the road. After seeing him, they drove off – one from the front, the other from the back. Moreover, as the defense notes, the police immediately requested documents not only from the driver, but also from Metropolitan Hilarion, although no claims related to a traffic violation were made. “There must always be a reason for a stop, and usually it is reported. In this case, according to the information we have, no claims for a traffic violation were made. Most likely, the task was to search this particular car,” the lawyer said.
Of particular concern is the fact that, according to the defense, Metropolitan Hilarion was taken to a store at a gas station and was not given the opportunity to observe the search of the car. “There should have been witnesses or a video recording. As far as we know at the moment, there was neither one nor the other. We see clear signs of a violation of the procedural order,” Michal Pacowski noted.
The defense also draws attention to the fact that personal belongings and bags were not actually searched, and the police’s attention was immediately directed to the trunk. “The police immediately turned to the trunk, as if they knew in advance where to look. If the entire car was being searched, why were the personal belongings and bags not checked? This is one of the key issues of the defense,” the lawyer emphasized.
The defense demands that all video recordings related to the stopping of the car, its escort, the search, the seizure of the items and the subsequent procedural actions be preserved and provided. The defense also demands an independent examination of the substance, packaging and containers, a check of fingerprints, DNA traces and the establishment of who had access to the car before the stop.
This incident was preceded by a prolonged period of pressure on Metropolitan Hilarion and the Orthodox Municipality of Karlovy Vary. According to the Metropolitan, in recent months he has repeatedly received anonymous threats, including threats of physical violence, demanding that he leave his place of service. According to the defense, these threats did not look like an ordinary domestic conflict. They were politically motivated: their authors linked Metropolitan Hilarion’s presence in Karlovy Vary with his Russian origin, his church affiliation, and his service in a temple of the Moscow Patriarchate. Metropolitan Hilarion is ready to cooperate with the investigation within the framework of the law and intends to defend his name, dignity, and reputation by all available legal means,” the statement concluded.
The spokeswoman for the National Drug Control Center, Lucie Šmoldásová, made a statement, saying that the services had stopped a car in the central Czech Republic following an anonymous tip-off about the transportation of narcotics and psychotropic substances. “I can confirm that, based on an anonymous tip-off about the transportation of narcotics and psychotropic substances, we have taken action against a car in the Central Bohemian Region. Given the ongoing criminal proceedings, we cannot provide any further information at the moment, nor can we specify the identities of the people in the car,” she added.
According to the prosecutor’s office in Kladno, no one has been charged so far. “Two detainees are being questioned today. After that, the police authority will make a decision,” prosecutor Petr Dluhoš said, as quoted by Novinky.
The Russian Foreign Ministry considers the detention in the Czech Republic of the former chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev, to be a provocation and “unacceptable arbitrariness.” Moscow is demanding his release. This was stated by the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova.
“We demand the unconditional and immediate release of Metropolitan Hilarion and the termination of the fabricated investigation,” the statement on the ministry’s website said. “In the nearest future, the head of the Czech diplomatic mission in Moscow will be summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, to whom a strong protest will be lodged.”
According to the diplomat, the Russian embassy will continue to provide Hilarion with the necessary assistance.
The Metropolitan was detained in the Czech Republic on May 24 on suspicion of drug possession together with his companion. The two are being held in separate cells, without the right to communicate with outsiders, his defense announced. The interrogation about the origin of the narcotic substance, distributed in four envelopes, lasted six hours on the first day.
At the end of last year, a high-ranking Armenian cleric was also detained in Armenia for illegal drug trafficking, and in Greece they broke up a drug distribution network disguised behind the activities of an old-style church. One of the biggest scandals of drug distribution behind a church screen dates back to 2016, when twelve suitcases of cocaine were found on the territory of the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The main figures in the case were two “Russian Orthodox patrons” who were transporting the drugs disguised as church utensils. At that time, the governing bishop of the diocese, Leonid (and future African “exarch”), was also questioned, who denied any connection with them, but was then recalled back to Russia.
