CIA officer who spoke about bribe to Bartholomew for OCU retracts his words

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: OCU

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who previously claimed that Patriarch Bartholomew received a $20 million bribe from the U.S. for granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church, has retracted his statement. This was reported by the Greek outlet Hellas Journal.

"I said that the money was sent through Ukrainian banks and that when it finally arrived in Istanbul, it was $5 million short. I heard this story from a State Department officer who had claimed to have direct knowledge of the situation. I have learned, however, that the story is false. No such transaction took place." Kiriakou stated, emphasizing that Patriarch Bartholomew is a "personal hero of mine."

"He’s known as 'the Green Patriarch' because of his impactful and longtime support for environmental protection, and he is a champion for peace around the world. Literally the last thing I would want to do is to put him in danger or to jeopardize the important work that he’s doing."

According to Kiriakou, the information he shared about the alleged bribe could have put the head of the Phanar at risk: "He already has been the subject of criminal and terrorist attacks from Turkish nationalists, attacks well documented in the media and on the news program 60 Minutes."

"I should have nailed down the facts before I repeated it," he concluded.

As a reminder, Kiriakou's story about the bribe to the head of the Phanar, as he claimed, was something he had heard in 2010. Therefore, it could not have been directly related to the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). However, in 2008, President Viktor Yushchenko actively lobbied for the Phanar to legalize the Kyiv Patriarchate, and Patriarch Bartholomew even visited Kyiv. But the then leader of the UOC-KP, Filaret Denysenko, refused to participate in this initiative at the last minute.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Kiriakou, the U.S. paid the Phanar $20 million for the creation of the OCU.

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