By Staff
In 2005, decorated international human rights attorney Robert Amsterdam was arrested in Moscow while representing political opponents of Vladimir Putin.
“I’ve been banned from Russia ever since,” he told Tucker Carlson in a recent interview on “The Tucker Carlson Show.” “I hold no water for Putin. I represent opponents of the Russian government in various countries and continue to represent political opponents of Putin.”
Amsterdam was responding to Carlson’s inquiry about why a Jewish liberal from the Bronx, who was arrested by Putin, is labeled a “Russian Stooge” and a “Putin Worshiper” by international and U.S. media outlets.
“The Ukrainians launched a massive disinformation campaign against me because of my defense of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). I’m on the legal team for some of the priests they have illegally jailed. You know, there’s a law, Law 3894, aimed at destroying the UOC. No law has been passed like this in Europe since World War II against the Jews.”
Amsterdam is no stranger to high-profile international cases. His firm, Amsterdam & Peroff LLP (now Amsterdam & Partners LLP), represented a whistleblower in a case against the United Nations, earning the “Global Pro Bono Award” from “American Lawyer” magazine in 2013. “We got two assistant secretaries-general disciplined in that case. That made history inside the U.N.”
Critics claim that members of the UOC have been “sympathetic” to Moscow during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The government of Ukraine, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, goes further, asserting that priests are actively assisting Russia; as a result, the entire denomination must be abolished. So far, 80 priests have been arrested.
One such priest, Metropolitan Arseniy, the abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, is reportedly being held in a pre-trial detention center without heat, potentially endangering his health. “I am accepting this,” Arseniy remarked when sentenced to house arrest and fitted with an ankle bracelet. “Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldn’t I accept this?”
The UOC has publicly denounced the Russian invasion and professed its loyalty to Ukraine. For his part, Amsterdam condemned Vladimir Putin and praised President Zelenskyy when the war began, supporting the United States’ decision to send aid and military supplies to Ukraine.
Despite this, he points out that he cannot even visit his clients in Ukraine for fear of retaliation, including the likelihood of arrest.
He argues that what is taking place is a war on religious freedom, and even if the UOC were sympathetic to Russia—which he maintains it is not—it does not give the government the authority to destroy his church.
In a more recent interview with Matt Moore on TRT Nexus, he alleged that the charges against priests like Arseniy are without merit: “I’ll go further. They’re constructed lies. The government fabricated these charges so they could steal his church; it is beyond horrifying what they are doing. The people in this church are on the front lines defending Ukraine while their own churches are being destroyed by the opposing church and the government.”
Read more on the story in the Winter 2025 Recap Issue of Rounder Magazine available for purchase now.
