Russia on Wednesday demanded that Ukraine free a top Orthodox cleric placed under house arrest by a Kyiv court this month in connection with allegations he had glorified Russia's invasion and stoked religious divisions.
Metropolitan Pavlo, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (monastery) in central Kyiv, is a senior official in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which Ukrainian authorities have accused of being pro-Russian and of collaborating with Moscow, charges the UOC denies.
