BRUSSELS, June 27. /TASS/. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell on Monday expressed regret that Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill didn’t end up on an EU list of sanctioned people, as he was excluded from the sixth package of restrictions on Russia.
"At the end of May, we reached an agreement on the 6th package of sanctions against Russia," the diplomat said on his blog. "But it took us a month to get the package over the line. And I have to regret that some final provisions were watered down and in the final hours, the Patriarch Kirill was left off the list of sanctioned individuals, despite the fact that his presence on the list was not contested during discussions in the Council."
Hungary opposed putting the patriarch on the list after the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said restrictions on church leaders should be off limits as they are involved in reaching peace.