Is it true that Patriarch Kirill is a Japanchik’s authority staging his death?

In recent years, an exotic theory has spread over the network, according to which the infamous criminal authority Vyacheslav Ivankov did not die as a result of an attempt, but disappeared under the personality of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. Despite all the fantastic of such a plot, we decided to figure out whether this conspiracy theory is succumbing to the testing methods of classic facts.

Here's what you can learn from Video On YouTube, which at the time of publication was looked at more than 400,000: “Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov, Japanese, a thief in law, died in 2009. In the same 2009, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Metropolitan Kirill Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. <...> The photo shows an amazing similarity. For comparison - an interview with the supposedly future Patriarch Kirill in 1989. Well, who looks more like the current Cyril, this man or Ivankov? Probably, within six months between the death of Ivankov and the election of Cyril, a substitution occurred. Real Cyril, most likely, was eliminated as unnecessary. His friend Joseph Kobzon, who was always close to the government and could resolve any issues, could help to be disguised after pseuditism to the thief to the thief to the thief to the thief to the thief. ”

Further, adherents of theory give several arguments, which, in their opinion, serve as its indirect confirmation. Namely:
1) the Japanese was buried in a closed coffin, and no one saw him dead;
2) the Japanese was approximately the same height with Vladimir Putin, and the growth of the real Cyril was 178 cm. However, in the photo between the president and the patriarch there is almost no difference in growth;
3) the clergyman became known to the public only after the death of Ivankov;
4) Ivankov’s father was called Cyril, so he could choose such a church name for himself not by chance;
5) At the time of the murder of Ivankov, the real Cyril went to Belarus. This has become a convenient circumstance for turning the operation.

This theory also actively spreads in social networks (Facebook, another option with 75,000 reposts was recently Remote, "VKontakte"). She gained particular popularity in Tiktok - there you can find videos, for example, with 2.2 million, 2.1 million, 2 million And 650,000 Views. There is a conspirological plot on various entertainment sites.

So what do we know about the heroes of our case? According to the official biographies, Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev was born on November 20, 1946 in Leningrad in the family of a priest, and at the age of 25, studying in the theological seminary, was tonsured a monasticism with the name of Cyril. From that moment, Cyril’s career in the church hierarchy begins: in 1971 he is already archimandrite, in 1976-a bishop, in 1977-Archbishop, since 1991-Metropolitan, and on January 27, 2009 the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Cyril Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.

In parallel, Cyril was engaged in social and educational work, including numerous international contacts, and since April 23, 1994 he has been conducting a program on the First Channel of Russian Television "Word of the shepherd". Therefore, we can immediately place the arguments No. 3 and No. 4 - long before his intronization, Cyril (precisely under this name) became perhaps the most recognizable priest in Russia.

And what about the Japanese? Believe biographies, collected from newspaper articles in more or less authoritative publications, Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov was born on January 2, 1940 in a dysfunctional family, from the age of 14 he was engaged in theft, and at the age of 25, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, he was sent for compulsory treatment, but fled from the hospital. Further, his “career” growth alternated with restrictions on freedom: a hospital, participation in a foreign gang, detention, creating his own gang, deadline for false documents and, finally, in 1974 - coronation in Butyrka with a thief in law. After that, Ivankov is overgrown with ties - it is believed that for the early release during the longest of its terms (1981–1991) such celebrities as the singers Alexander Rosenbaum and Joseph Kobzon, as well as ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fedorov (According to him, at the request of the wife).

However, at large, the Japanchik has not stayed for a very long time. In 1992, he first left for Germany, and from there to the United States, where he quickly became an intermediary in disputes between both criminal authorities and Russian businessmen, simultaneously engaged in racketeering. In 1995, Ivankov was Detained The FBI employees, eventually receiving almost ten years for extortion. Having served it almost to the end, Ivankov I went out In July 2004, he was deported to Russia, where he was waiting for the murder of two Turkish businessmen. However, in 2005 Mosgorsud, and then Supreme Court of the Russian Federation The already world -famous criminal was acquitted at that time, and he went west, leaving behind him the right to periodically act as an arbitration judge in criminal showdowns. One of these events was a fatal for Ivankov. On July 28, 2009, the Japanchik, who arrived in Moscow to resolve the dispute about control over the gambling business, was hard wounded At the exit from the Thai Elephant restaurant. After a series of operations on August 1, Translated In the usual ward, but five days later Ivankov again fell into intensive care because of the developed peritonitis. In September there were a coma and clinical death, on October 1, a thief in law It seems to be I was conscious again, but the media on October 9 Reported About the death of criminal authority.

Thus, the answer to the question that interests us may lie somewhere between February 1 (Kirill's intronization day) and October 9 (Ivankov’s death), during the period when the substitution was supposedly took place. To begin with, consider the problem of external similarity. Is it really the appearance of the Russian Patriarch at some point changed dramatically and he became very similar to the Japanese? It is not difficult to check this statement, since the church figure, unlike criminal authority, constantly appeared in front of the television cameras. Some conspiracyologists demonstrate the appearance of relatively young Cyril (here SoFor example, he looked at the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1991), contrasting it with the current and drawing parallels with the appearance of the Japanese, but it would be more correct to consider a change in Cyril's face for a year after year:

As you can see, there was no noticeable change in the appearance of Patriarch Kirill, not counting the natural process of aging, did not happen in the first 15 years of the existence of the transmission of the Word of the Shepherd, or during 2009, when it seemed to be replaced. Moreover, on the air subsequent years Judging by all external signs, the same person spoke in front of the camera. That squint on which emphasize Conspiracyologists, distinguish only with omitted eyebrows and appeared much earlier than 2009.

Japanchik on pictures We see the small dark eyes of the East Asian type, because of which it is believed that he got his nickname. This person has very little in common with the appearance of Patriarch Kirill.

Moreover, if we compare the two photographs of Patriarch Kirill, the most popular photos of Patriarch Kirill among conspiracy thes, then someone clearly worked on one of them with a photoshop to fit the Ivankov’s face. In other words, in the average picture between us is not Patriarch Kirill, but the “hybrid” of the first and third pictures.

Thus, the exterior argument can be safely set aside. The same goes for the voice - from the rare interview The criminal authority given in an American prison is clear that this is a completely different timbre.

Let's go briefly on the remaining points.

1) on the funeral service in the temple of the Resurrection of the Waganka Cemetery, the body of the Japanchik was not in the closed, but in the open coffin. He was closed only after the priest finished reading the prayer and the widow of the Japanese kissed her husband. This was reported by the correspondent of the publication "Gazeta.ru", journalist "Izvestia" The appearance of the late Ivankov described in detail, and special commercials "Komsomol member" They even took an unclear picture.

Moreover, cameras captured And the moment of attempt on Ivankov. This happened in front of the relatively large number of people, so it would be extremely difficult to staging everything, not to mention forensic experts and other procedural subtleties.

2) neither tonor after 2009 Cyril did not exceed Putin in growth in most common pictures. Rather, it was slightly inferior.

5) At the time of the attempt on Ivankov, Patriarch Kirill was on a visit to Ukraine, not in BelarusWhere he went at the end of September. This, of course, is not a key discrepancy, but it shows how inaccurate the conspiracyologists selected facts.

Thus, not a single argument in favor of the fact that Patriarch Kirill and the thief in the law of the Japanchik is the same person, does not deserve serious attention. In most cases, they are easily refuted by facts. Nevertheless, the popularity of this plot suggests that sometimes people want to believe even in the most incredible development of events.

Image on the cover: social networks

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?