Exarch Reports Airport Misconduct Involving African Students, Calls for FSB Investigation

The Exarch of the African Patriarchate, Metropolitan Leonid Gorbachev, reported filing a complaint with the FSB Border Service after African students arriving in Russia to study at institutions connected to the Russian Orthodox Church faced what he described as inappropriate treatment at the airport. He laid out the incident in a detailed article published on a Telegram channel, pointing to a border guard officer who refused to reveal his name or position while involved in the encounter. The Exarch asserts that the border guard questioned the prospective students about payments allegedly made to the ROC and the Exarchate to secure invitations to study in Russia, and he raised corruption charges against the Exarchate related to assisting Africans in illegal migration toward Europe and Canada via the Russian Federation. Metropolitan Leonid stated that on August 26 two students endured a five hour delay at Domodedovo Airport as they were interrogated by border officials. In response, the Exarch sent an official appeal to the leadership of the Border Guard Service of the FSB of Russia, urging an investigation into what he described as not the first instance of this type of treatment toward future clerics from Africa. The information was reported by DEA News, with the incidents involving students arriving from Africa seeking to begin their studies. There is also a note that ROC related matters had previously sparked controversy during the period surrounding the consecration of a Stalin monument in Velikiye Luki.