Czech police have released a Russian Orthodox bishop detained on suspicion of drug possession after Moscow called the arrest a politically motivated setup. Bishop Hilarion, whose civil name is Grigory Alfeyev, was stopped by officers on Sunday in Karlovy Vary, a western Czech spa town frequented by Russian visitors. Police found containers holding a white substance in the trunk of his vehicle. In a Tuesday statement issued after his release without charge, Hilarion said laboratory tests confirmed the material was an illegal narcotic yet maintained he had been framed. He noted that finding the substance did not explain how it entered the car. The 60-year-old leads the Russian Orthodox parish in Karlovy Vary, home to a significant Russian community. National drug investigators said the stop followed an anonymous report of narcotics transport. Russia’s foreign ministry described the incident as a deliberate provocation and summoned the Czech chargé d’affaires in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church also called it a classic setup. Hilarion previously directed the church’s external relations department and was once close to Patriarch Kirill. After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine he avoided public statements on the conflict, unlike many senior clergy, and was later reassigned abroad. In late 2024 he was removed from a Hungarian diocese following harassment claims he denies and was posted to Karlovy Vary.
