MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. The introduction of sanctions against Patriarch Kirill is absolutely illegitimate, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church is against violence, he is beyond politics and always expressed his opinion from the position of the church, Chairman of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk said on Tuesday commenting on a statement by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia should be blacklisted by the EU.

"Patriarch Kirill is beyond politics and introducing sanctions against him is illegitimate and at the same time incomprehensible. This is some abnormality of understanding this person’s life in general. When the patriarch expresses his opinion, he is expressing it precisely the way the church understands it and he stands against any violence," the archbishop said at a press conference.

He noted that the Russian Orthodox Church has parishes on all continents, in the majority of countries worldwide, and therefore its representatives, parishioners and clergy, are citizens of various countries.

Earlier on Tuesday, upon arriving at an EU summit, Borrell said that the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church should be blacklisted by the EU within the framework of the sixth sanctions package.

This is not the first statement of this kind: earlier, France Presse also reported that the European Union proposed to introduce restrictions against the Russian patriarch. In response, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asserted that Hungary "won’t permit including church leaders in the sanctions list." This initiative was also condemned by Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Society and Mass Media Relations Vladimir Legoyda.