Senior Russian cleric released hours after Moscow summoned Czech envoy over his detention

A senior Russian cleric detained in the Czech Republic has now been released, his team said Tuesday.

“Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) … has been released,” a statement said on the cleric’s Telegram account.

The news comes after the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Czech Charge d’Affaires in Moscow Jan Ondrejka earlier Tuesday to lodge a strong protest over the detention of Hilarion, a senior cleric in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The ministry called the allegations against the cleric — reportedly related to the production and trafficking of narcotic substances — “absurd” and “completely groundless.”

Russian officials also argued that the police operation to detain him, allegedly launched following an anonymous tip, appeared to be “planned and provocative in nature.”

Moscow had demanded the immediate release of Hilarion and called on Prague to end what it described as pressure on representatives in the Czech Republic of the Russian Orthodox Church.