Brussels 14.06.2025 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ said that he was not scared by the launch of an F-16 near his plane flying to Kaliningrad. Speaking at a meeting of the clergy of the Kaliningrad, he said that his plane was accompanied to the region by an F-16 fighter, and asked a rhetorical question as to why this had to be done.

“Here is the patriarch flying on a passenger plane. Why send NATO fighters to meet him? What danger can a patriarch who is flying to his flock pose?” he asked.

The patriarch redirected it to Western politicians: “Why are you doing this? You will not scare the patriarch – that’s for sure! To provoke a conflict that could lead to casualties?”

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church concluded that Russia should follow its own civilizational path of development and “should not follow the lead of warmongers.”

However the video of his flight to Kaliningrad published by his office did not confirm Patriarch’s statement of a NATO jet surveillance.

Last week, Patriarch Kirill spoke about the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine. He called it important and humane.