Tallinn has rental or right of superficies contracts with MPEÕK for a total of three plots, while the Ministry of the Interior has given the church use of four buildings for a symbolic rental fee.

MPEÕK has a 36-year rental contract for the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral at Lossi plats 10 in Toompea since 2001. While the cathedral was made available for use by the church free of charge, the contract obligated the latter to administer and manage the building and insure it for 6.7 million Estonian kroons.

In 2005, the City Center district government drew up an open-term rental contract for the building at Pikk tänav 64/1. The church pays €819.48 monthly to rent the 270.3 square meter property.

A spokesperson for the city government told ERR that MPEÕK uses business premises on the basement, first and second floors of the building as office space.

In 2006, the city entered into a right of superficies contract with MPEÕK for the plot at Loopealse puiestee 8 in Lasnamäe where the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hearken" was constructed. The church paid nothing for the right of superficies which was given for 99 years.

MPEÕK renting four buildings from the government

The national government decided in 2002 to give MPEÕK use of four buildings the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAÕK) did not wish to return as the legal successor of the Orthodox church in Estonia before the 1940s. MPEÕK must pay a monthly rent of one Estonian kroon for each property plus national and local taxes.

The buildings include three churches: The Tallinn Birth of the Mother of God Church at Liivalaia 38, Tallinn St. Nicholas' Church at Vene 24 in the Old Town and John the Baptist Church at Tähe 2. The fourth is a congregation house also at the latter address.

MPEÕK operating another two churches

The Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate owns two more churches in the capital. The St. Nicholas' Church at Treiali 6 in Kopli and the tiny Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All who Sorrow" at Sitsi 15a.

Tallinn's press representative Jukko Nooni said that the Sitsi Chapel was transferred in 2013 and the Kopli St- Nicholas' Church in 2012.

New Tallinn coalition vows to terminate contract with organizations of Russian influence

The Tallinn coalition agreement signed on Sunday by the Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), Eesti 200 and Isamaa reads: "The city will terminate contracts and will not support individuals, organizations, or projects that expand the influence of the Russian Federation."

The agreement also includes a promise to terminate rental agreements for city-owned property with the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets, whose Social Democrats are also in a national coalition with the Reform Party and Eesti 200, has taken decisive action against the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (MPEÕK). He demands that it clearly distance itself from the positions of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, who has declared Russia's aggression in Ukraine a holy war and stated that the West has fallen into Satan's clutches.

Last week, Läänemets announced that he would propose to the Riigikogu to recognize the Moscow-based Orthodox Patriarchate as an organization supporting terrorism, in order to ultimately ban its activities in Estonia.

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