Archbishop GRIGORY MIKHNOV-VAITENKO, Apostolic Orthodox Church (St Petersburg)

Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko, Primate of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, St Petersburg.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, Mikhnov-Vaitenko has established a ministry of humanitarian and human rights help to Ukrainian refugees. He runs a Telegram channel, Prison, War and Faith with almost 10,000 subscribers; the channel regularly publishes anti-war materials.

On 17 February 2024, Mikhnov-Vaitenko was detained near his house on the way to the memorial service for the deceased politician Alexei Navalny. He was taken to the 43rd police department. From there, he was hospitalised with a stroke. The administrative case agains him was later closed due to the expiration of the term.

On July 19, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice reported that Mikhnov-Vaitenko was added to the foreign agents’ list.