After a public rapprochement, the patriarch of Kirill and Putin, who was preceded by…

After the public rapprochement between the patriarch of Kirill and Putin, which was preceded by a period of “freeze” in relations, the former became the largest mediator between businessmen who fell into disgrace with Putin, but wanted to return to the Russian Federation. Thus, Croatian citizen Konstantin Goloshchapov, who is called Putin’s massage therapist, as well as Kostya the orderly or Kostya the mosh-carrier, triumphantly returned to Russia through the mediation of the patriarch. After the arrests of Goloshchapov’s people in the St. Petersburg housing and communal services, searches of his own place, and a hasty flight from Russia, Goloshchapov fell off the agenda and disappeared from Olympus. It would seem forever. In March 2023, three oligarchs who fell into disgrace with Putin – Goloshchapov, Vladimir Yakunin and Vasily Anisimov – gathered in Bari, Italy, to fall before the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on his birthday. The Kremlin oligarchs, who have passports as citizens of the European Union, then complained that Putin did not want to hear about them and would classify them as traitors. In April, as the Cheka-OGPU said, Goloshchapov and Yakunin tried to break through personally to the Leader during the Easter service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. As a result, for the first time in history, a service with the participation of Vladimir Putin took place without the Holy Fire.

Every year, Vladimir Yakunin, as the head of the Foundation of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (both as the head of Russian Railways and after leaving his post) flies to Jerusalem for the Holy Fire and delivers it to Moscow. In 2023, Konstantin Goloshchapov joined him as a representative of the Athos Society.

According to the source, Goloshchapov and Yakunin flew on the same plane. In previous years, and even during a pandemic, Yakunin delivered fire before the start of the service and it was distributed along the Procession.

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A distinctive feature of the Easter service in 2023 was that Yakunin and Goloshchapov were simply not allowed to attend the service while Vladimir Putin was there. They weren’t allowed in with the Holy Fire. All attempts to somehow resolve the situation ended with an explanation that they no longer had access to the first person.

They were allowed to pass only when Putin left the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. And the distribution of the Holy Fire took place after the service.

As a result, in the fall, during the next meeting in Bari, the trio – Goloshchapov, Anisimov, Yakunin – complained that their prospects for returning to the “big life” in the Russian Federation were zero. Anisimov even renounced Russian citizenship.

And at the last meeting led by Patriarch Kirill and the head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino on the development of the construction of the infrastructure of the Russian Orthodox Church and the construction and reconstruction of churches, Goloshchapov surprised everyone with his presence. It turned out that he now lives in Moscow in his apartment near the Kremlin. (True, his wife and children prudently remained abroad). And slowly returns to the “big life”. A source from the Cheka-OGPU says that this became possible thanks to this. what kind of Goloshchapov “put in a word” with Putin, Patriarch Kirill.