Is it true that Patriarch Kirill is the authority figure Yaponchik who faked his death?

In recent years, an exotic theory has spread across the Internet, according to which the notorious crime boss Vyacheslav Ivankov did not die as a result of an assassination attempt, but hid under the identity of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. Despite how fantastic this plot is, we decided to figure out whether this conspiracy theory can be verified using classical fact-checking methods.

Here's what you can learn from video on YouTube, which at the time of publication was viewed by more than 400,000 people: “Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov, Yaponchik, thief in law, died in 2009. In the same 2009, the local council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Metropolitan Kirill as Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. <…> The photo shows a striking resemblance. For comparison, here is an interview with the supposedly future Patriarch Kirill in 1989. Well, who is more like the current Kirill, this man or Ivankov? Probably, during the six months between Ivankov’s death and the election of Kirill, a substitution took place. The real Kirill was most likely eliminated as unnecessary. The thief Yaponchik could have been helped to disguise himself after the pseudo-murder by his friend Joseph Kobzon, who was always close to the government and could resolve any issues.”

Further, adherents of the theory give several arguments that, in their opinion, serve as its indirect confirmation. Namely:
1) The Jap was buried in a closed coffin, and no one saw him dead;
2) The Jap was about the same height as Vladimir Putin, and the height of the real Kirill was 178 cm. However, in the photo there is almost no difference in height between the president and the patriarch;
3) the clergyman became known to the public only after Ivankov’s death;
4) Ivankov’s father’s name was Kirill, so he could not have chosen such a church name for himself by chance;
5) at the time of Ivankov’s murder, the real Kirill went to Belarus. This became a convenient circumstance for carrying out the operation.

This theory is also actively spreading on social networks (Facebook, another option with 75,000 reposts was recently deleted, "VKontakte"). She gained particular popularity on TikTok - there you can find videos, for example, with 2.2 million, 2.1 million, 2 million And 650,000 views. Conspiracy plots can also be found on various entertainment shows. websites.

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 into the family of a priest, and at the age of 25, while studying at a theological seminary, he was tonsured a monk with the name Kirill. From this moment, Kirill’s career in the church hierarchy began: in 1971 he was already an archimandrite, in 1976 - a bishop, in 1977 - an archbishop, since 1991 - a metropolitan, and on January 27, 2009, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Kirill as Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.

At the same time, Kirill was engaged in public educational work, including numerous international contacts, and since April 23, 1994 he has been hosting a program on the first channel of Russian television "The Word of the Shepherd". Therefore, we can immediately dismiss arguments No. 3 and No. 4 - long before his enthronement, Kirill (under this name) became perhaps the most recognizable priest in Russia.

And what about Jap? If you 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, diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was sent for compulsory treatment, but fled from the hospital. Further, his “career” growth alternated with restrictions on freedom: hospitalization, participation in someone else’s gang, detention, creation of his own gang, prison time for false documents and, finally, in 1974, coronation in Butyrka as a thief in law. After this, Ivankov acquired connections - it is believed that such celebrities as singers Alexander Rosenbaum and Joseph Kobzon, as well as ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fedorov (according to him, at the request of his wife).

However, Yaponchik did not remain free for very long. In 1992, he first went to Germany, and from there to the United States, where he quickly became a mediator in disputes between both criminal authorities and Russian businessmen, while simultaneously engaging in racketeering. In 1995, Ivankov was detained by the FBI, ultimately receiving almost ten years for extortion. Having served it almost to the end, Ivankov came out in July 2004 and was immediately deported to Russia, where the case of the murder of two Turkish businessmen awaited him. However, in 2005 Moscow City Court, and then Supreme Court of the Russian Federation The already world-famous criminal was acquitted at that time, and he left for the West, reserving the right to periodically act as an arbitrator in criminal disputes. One of these events became fatal for Ivankov. On July 28, 2009, Yaponchik, who came to Moscow to resolve a dispute over control over the gambling business, had a hard time wounded at the exit from the Thai Elephant restaurant. After a series of operations on August 1, he transferred to a regular ward, but five days later Ivankov was again admitted to intensive care due to developing peritonitis. In September there was a coma and clinical death, on October 1, thief in law it seems regained consciousness, but on October 9 the media reported about the death of a crime boss.

Thus, the answer to the question that interests us may lie somewhere between February 1 (the day of Kirill’s enthronement) and October 9 (the day of Ivankov’s death), during the period when the substitution allegedly took place. First, let's look at the problem of external similarity. Did the appearance of the Russian patriarch really change dramatically at some point and he became very similar to Yaponchik? It is not difficult to verify this statement, since the church leader, unlike the crime boss, constantly appeared in front of television cameras. Some conspiracy theorists demonstrate the appearance of a relatively young Kirill (here So, for example, he looked at the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1991), contrasting it with the current one and drawing parallels with the appearance of Yaponchik, however, it would be more correct to consider the change in Kirill’s face year after year:

As we can see, no noticeable change in the appearance of Patriarch Kirill, apart from the natural aging process, occurred either during the first 15 years of the existence of the “Word of the Shepherd” program, or during 2009, when it seemed like he should have been replaced. Moreover, on air subsequent years Judging by all external signs, the same person spoke in front of the camera. That squint, attention on which accentuate conspiracy theorists, is distinguishable only with lowered eyebrows and appeared much earlier than 2009.

Yaponchik has pictures we see small dark eyes of the East Asian type, which is believed to be where he got his nickname. This face has very little in common with the appearance of Patriarch Kirill.

Moreover, if we compare the two most popular photographs of Patriarch Kirill among conspiracy theorists, we will see that someone clearly photoshopped one of them to fit Ivankov’s face. In other words, in the middle photo between us is not Patriarch Kirill, but a “hybrid” of the first and third photos.

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

Let's briefly go through the remaining points.

1) At the funeral service in the Church of the Resurrection of the Word at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, Yaponchik’s body was not in a closed, but in an open coffin. It was closed only after the priest finished reading the prayer and Yaponchik’s widow kissed her husband. This was reported by a correspondent of the publication "Gazeta.ru", journalist "Izvestia" described in detail the appearance of the late Ivankov, and special correspondents "Komsomolskaya Pravda" They even took a blurry photo.

Moreover, cameras captured and the moment of the assassination attempt on Ivankov. This happened in front of a relatively large number of people, so it would have been extremely difficult to stage everything reliably, not to mention forensic examinations and other procedural subtleties.

2) Neither to, nor after 2009, Kirill did not exceed Putin in height in most general photographs. Rather, it was somewhat inferior.

5) At the time of the assassination attempt on Ivankov, Patriarch Kirill was on a visit to Ukraine, not in Belarus, where he visited at the end of September. This, of course, is not a key discrepancy, but it shows how carelessly conspiracy theorists have selected the facts.

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

Cover image: social media

Fake

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