Swedish Authorities Initiate Compulsory Purchase of Moscow Patriarchate Church
In the city of Västerås, Swedish municipal authorities have begun the process of forcibly acquiring an Orthodox church belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate, citing national security concerns. The church, opened in 2023, was built with funds linked to Russia and is situated just 300 meters from the runway of a local airport. This airport has been designated as a reserve base and is used for NATO military exercises. The Swedish government is now reviewing the case. This action reflects heightened vigilance across Europe regarding Russian influence following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Västerås municipality has submitted an expropriation request to the national government. In 2024, the Swedish Security Service, Säkerhetspolisen (Säpo), stated that Russia uses structures of the Moscow Patriarchate for intelligence gathering and influence operations. Following this report, Moscow Patriarchate communities in Sweden lost their state funding. Although a construction permit for the church was granted in 2017, a municipal official, Staffan Jansson, noted it was issued under conditions of insufficient information. From 2021 to 2023, construction funds were provided by a foundation connected to the Russian state corporation 'Rosatom'.
Parish Priest's Comments and Parallels in Ukraine
The church's rector, Pavel Makarenko, commented on the situation, suggesting that 'photos could have been the result of a hacker attack.' He also noted that the concern is not the religious community itself, but its ties to Russia and the building's strategic location, a point emphasized by Elisabeth Unell. If the expropriation is approved, the owners are to receive compensation equivalent to the property's market value plus an additional 25%.
Parallel concerns regarding the Moscow Patriarchate have arisen in Ukraine. Bishops of the Moscow-linked church in Ukraine published an appeal to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience issued an order to identify signs of affiliation between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church. The head of this church, Onufriy (Orest Berezovsky), an 80-year-old, has been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship. The current security landscape in Europe is fundamentally different from the period before Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine and Sweden's accession to NATO.
This development underscores growing European apprehension about Russian influence, particularly in the context of security threats stemming from the war in Ukraine. Sweden's move to seize the Moscow Patriarchate church is part of a broader policy to counter Russian operations, which could have implications extending beyond religious structures to interstate relations. The evolving situation surrounding the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine indicates similar state-level responses to perceived national security threats.