On March 2, 2023, Mikhail Glukhovsky, a journalist from the Glavkom news agency, turned to Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich with a request to comment on the information about the priest’s alleged citizenship of the Russian Federation. Father Nikolai’s commentary was published by the DECR website.

“I am a citizen of Ukraine. I do not have Russian citizenship, never had it and never applied for it. I also don’t have registration in the Russian Federation now, neither in 2011 nor in 2012, ”said the clergyman.

He said that from 2004 to 2007 he worked in the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, together with Father Kirill Govorun.

“Due to the fact that I am a foreigner, for my legal stay in this country at that time it was necessary to register as a citizen of another country. I admit that the address of my work could be indicated as the registration address, ”added Father Nikolai.

Finally, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich remarked that “indeed, I once studied at the Moscow Theological Academy, and as a student I had a place of registration in Sergiev Posad. Before that, he graduated from the theological seminary in Ukraine, namely in Pochaev. When I worked in church structures in Moscow, I lived on the territory of the temple, where I was registered, but I do not have and never had Russian citizenship. These are the facts of my biography, and there is nothing illegal in this.