Suspended archdeacon, famous writer and missionary, published in his social networks anti-war texts. On 21 March, his LiveJournal blog was blocked in Russia. On 23 August, Nikulino court of Moscow fined him for 30,000 rubles for a post in LiveJournal from 18 April, where archdeacon reflected on Russian civil war 1918-1923 and in some passages touched upon contemporary situation. The court considered it an offence under part 1 art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences (discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation). The post however was deleted before trial. Kuraev deleted all his blog posts from 23 February to 1 August. The Archdeacon announced that he will pay the fine.
On 28 April 2023, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev was defrocked by the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow decree. The Patriarch lifted the moratorium on executing the 29 December 2020 decision of the Moscow Eparchal Court. The decision to defrock was not related to the anti-war position of the cleric, however, the approval of this decision was the result, among others, of the archdeacon’s anti-war statements. On 15 April 2024, he was restored to the clergy by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
On 22 December 2023, Kuraev was added to the list of foreign agents in The Russian Federation. On 26 June 2024, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow found Kuraev guilty of committing an administrative offence under Part 4 of Art. 19.34 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Violation of the procedure for the activities of a foreign agent).
The court imposed an administrative fine of 30,000 rubles.
