Belarusian supporter of the "Russian world" almost spoke at a conference in Lithuania. He was removed at the last moment

Alexey Khoteev

The conference took place on April 26th at the Vilnius Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos and was dedicated to the 680th anniversary of the church and the history of Orthodoxy in Lithuania. However, the list of participants raised questions due to earlier publicly expressed pro-Russian statements by some of the announced speakers, including Alexey Khoteev from Belarus.

Journalists noted that Khoteev had previously called the Ukrainian Euromaidan a "state coup," and Crimea "Russian land."

Following a journalistic inquiry, the conference organizers quickly removed Khoteev from the conference.

"The political statements of Father Alexey Khoteev that you mentioned came as a surprise to us. Thank you for the provided information," reported the Lithuanian Orthodox Diocese.

As a result, despite the fact that the topic of Khoteev's report "did not raise questions," a decision was made to "exclude his presentation from the conference program."

A native of Yaroslavl, Russia, Alexey Khoteev currently works as a senior research fellow in the Department of Belarusian History of the late 18th — early 20th centuries at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. He is a graduate of the Minsk Theological Seminary and the History Faculty of BSU (Belarusian State University). From 2017-2020, he was a postgraduate student at the Department of Russian History at BSU, and in 2021, he defended his candidate's dissertation, dedicated to Russian historical and literary journals of the second half of the 19th — early 20th century as sources for the history of Belarus.

For a long time, he worked in the editorial office of the Orthodox newspaper «Voskresenie» (Resurrection), which was known for its West Russian views, and was the abbot of the Church of St. John of Kronstadt in Minsk. For some time, he taught English and history at school. He began working at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus at the end of 2022.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania also drew attention to the conference program, which, even after Khoteev's removal, still included explicitly pro-Russian participants from EU countries. It stated that the mere fact of holding such events does not violate the law, but their content must remain within the legal framework.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the Lithuanian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and religion, but religious platforms cannot be used for activities that contradict the country's laws and Constitution.

The department also expressed hope that the conference would not become a political platform. It was particularly emphasized that it should not be used to justify Russian aggression against Ukraine or to spread the ideas of the so-called "Russian world".

Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled that the Lithuanian Orthodox Church had previously expressed a stance against the war and declared its desire for greater independence from Moscow, so consistency in these principles is expected.

Regarding the conference participants, the department noted that some of them hold controversial public positions and expressed hope that the relevant authorities would assess the event from the perspective of potential threats to state security and public order.

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