Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the country’s embassy in Belarus was informed about the detention of a Lithuanian citizen, LRT reported.
The ministry also reiterated its recommendation that Lithuanian citizens refrain from traveling to Belarus and urged those currently in the country to leave immediately. The ministry warned that consular assistance in Belarus may be provided only to a very limited extent or may not be available at all.
Yevgeny Grigoryev, a representative of the Old Orthodox Pomorian Church and deputy chairman of the Vilnius Old Believer Religious Community of Lithuania, told the broadcaster that the detained man is well known within Old Believer circles and that his activities had attracted attention in Lithuania as well. According to Grigoryev, he had “self-proclaimed” himself a spiritual mentor, seized church property that did not belong to him and has retained control of it since 2009 despite a court ruling.
“After complying with the court ruling on the transfer of the property, he changed the locks again the very next day, effectively carrying out a ‘raider seizure’ of someone else’s property. He continues to hold the Perelazy church building and has still not complied with the court decision. This has been going on since 2009,” he said.
As previously reported, Christian Vision identified the detainee as Mikhail Rybakov, mentor of the Perelazy Old Orthodox Old Believer Community in Lithuania’s Jonava District. After purchasing a house in the village of Kukliany, he openly approached the Pastavy District Executive Committee and attempted to register a religious community, but a working group identified what it described as “signs of forgery” in the submitted documents.
According to the outlet, Rybakov is a well-known figure in the Old Believer communities of the Baltic states. He led the Perelazy community for decades and defended its independence from the Lithuanian Old Believers Church in court proceedings that reached Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court.
Police described Rybakov as a “fake priest.” Christian Vision noted that he is a committed adherent of the priestless branch of Old Belief, which does not recognize a clerical hierarchy and rejects the institution of priesthood.
Rybakov faces expulsion from Belarus.
