Coronavirus-denying Russian monk detained by police

Father Sergiy, right, a monk who has defied the Russian Orthodox Church’s leadership Picture: Vladimir Podoksyonov/AP

Russian riot police have stormed into a monastery to detain a rebel monk who has castigated the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church leadership and denied the existence of coronavirus.

In the overnight showdown, police clashed with supporters of Father Sergiy at the Sredneuralsk monastery outside Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.