detain

Moscow condemned the action of the Czech police, calling the detainment a ‘provocation’.

Czech police have detained a Russian cleric after four containers of a suspicious white substance were discovered in his car.

Orthodox Bishop Hilarion was detained in the town of Karlovy Vary, according to a statement released on his Telegram channel by his defence team on Monday.

The arrest sparked claims of provocation from Moscow against Czechia’s government, despite Prague having reduced its support for Ukraine since it took office six months ago.

Bishop Hilarion, 60, whose secular name is Grigory Alfeyev, heads the Russian Orthodox Church’s congregation in the western town, which hosts a sizeable Russian diaspora.

The cleric denied any involvement in drug possession. “I have no connection and have never had any connection to the illegal trafficking of narcotic substances,” he said in the statement.

Czech police said only that a man was detained on Sunday evening on a highway between Karlovy Vary and Prague, adding that interrogations were under way and no one had been charged, without disclosing the detainee’s identity.

The Czech Drug Enforcement Centre said it had also acted on an anonymous tip-off reporting the transport of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

Hilarion’s defence said police offered no clear reason for stopping the vehicle and that two patrol cars appeared to be waiting for it on the road.

Hilarion was not permitted to observe the search, his lawyer said, adding that the defence was demanding independent forensic analysis of the substance along with fingerprint and DNA checks.

‘Provocation’

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident an “orchestrated provocation” aimed at discrediting Hilarion, and demanded his immediate release.

“The head of the Czech diplomatic ⁠mission in Moscow will shortly be summoned to ⁠the Russian Foreign Ministry, where a strong protest will be lodged regarding the unacceptable high-handedness of the Czech authorities,” she said.

Russian media reported that the detention followed months of anonymous threats against Hilarion, including threats of physical violence demanding he leave his post in Karlovy Vary.

Hilarion was once considered the right-hand man of Patriarch Kirill – the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a pillar of support for President Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine.

However, the priest reportedly fell out of favour with Moscow’s spiritual authorities and was sent abroad in 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion.

His assignment to the Czech Republic came after a former aide brought sexual misconduct charges against him, allegations Hilarion denied, claiming the aide had attempted to extort €384,000 from him.

Unlike many senior Russian clergymen who have publicly backed the war in Ukraine, Hilarion has never publicly commented on the conflict.

Separately on Monday, the Czech government, a coalition of populist and far-right parties that took office in December, announced that it had approved a legal amendment ⁠that would ⁠tighten rules for Ukrainian refugees’ stays and financial support. It said it was responding to the abuse of ⁠aid, and the perception that refugees had some advantages over locals.

The former mayor of a conservative Kansas town was taken into custody by immigration authorities after acknowledging last year that he had voted in elections despite not being a U.S. citizen.

Joe Ceballos, who was born in Mexico and is a legal permanent U.S. resident, was detained Wednesday during a meeting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Wichita, Kan., according to his attorney, Jess Hoeme. He said Ceballos now fears he could be deported.

The 55-year-old resigned as mayor of Coldwater in December while facing state charges over voting as a noncitizen. While seeking citizenship in 2025, Ceballos admitted during an interview that he had voted, not knowing that green card holders don’t qualify, Hoeme said.

Ceballos was charged with voting illegally but pleaded guilty in April to misdemeanors in a deal with the Kansas attorney general. His case has drawn attention from the Trump administration and inspired supporters in his community, some of whom held signs reading “We Support Mayor Joe” and “ICE Out” as Ceballos walked into the federal building in Wichita.

“Let Joe go!” the crowd yelled.

“Thinking what could happen — it’s just kind of crazy,” Ceballos told reporters. “Obviously nervous. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know where they’re going to take me and what I can and can’t do inside there.”

An email seeking comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

Trump and other Republicans have been warning of the dangers of noncitizens voting in elections since the beginning of the 2024 presidential election. Research, even by Republican election officials, show the problem is rare.

This year, Trump has been pushing Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which among other things would require documented proof of U.S. citizenship to register and vote.

The administration also has significantly upgraded a program within Homeland Security that checks citizenship. At least 25 states, most of them controlled by Republicans, have used that system to check their voter rolls.

Ceballos was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by family when he was 4 years old. Hoeme said lawyers would next try to get an immigration judge to release him on bond.

He said Ceballos, at age 18, was encouraged to register to vote on the spot during a school field trip to the Comanche County courthouse. Ceballos has previously said in interviews with reporters that he voted for Republicans.

He was twice elected mayor of Coldwater, population 700, and also served on the city council. Ceballos won a new term in November but resigned after state Atty. Gen. Kris Kobach charged him with voting without being qualified and election perjury.

Kobach’s office, however, reached a deal with Ceballos. He pleaded guilty to disorderly election conduct, which Hoeme described as a misdemeanor similar to disturbing the peace.

“He has not been convicted of any kind of voter fraud. It should not have impacted his immigration status,” Hoeme said. “The Trump administration and ICE have doubled down on nonsense that he is a criminal.”

Ceballos has been a popular figure in Coldwater, where an advertisement in the Western Star newspaper encouraged people to support him.

“He’s kind of got to live the American dream, to come from absolutely nothing and build up — I don’t know about wealth — but to build up a business and have a job and be a productive part of society,” longtime friend Ryan Swayze told Wichita station KAKE-TV.

White writes for the Associated Press.