The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has claimed that the detention of Metropolitan Hilarion, Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church, in Czechia over the transportation of an unidentified substance was an "orchestrated provocation" and demanded his immediate release.

Police in the city of Karlovy Vary, Czechia, stopped a car on 24 May carrying Russian Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads the Czech branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, and found…

Metropolitan Hilarion categorically denies any involvement in the illegal possession of prohibited substances