Russian Priest Detained for 2014 Photo with Ukrainian Flag

(Reuters) - A Russian Orthodox priest has been sentenced to 14 days in custody over a 2014 photo in which he was shown with a Ukrainian flag, according to the cleric's own account and Russian media reports.

Nikolai Savchenko posted on social media that police had come to his church to arrest him. A court sentenced him on a charge of displaying an extremist symbol, according to Savchenko and court documents quoted by Russian media.

The Russian Orthodox Church strongly backs the war in Ukraine and has punished dozens of priests who have defied its official line, for example by reading out prayers for peace instead of victory.

Last year, a priest who led a memorial service at the grave of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny was suspended from clerical duties and ordered to serve three years of "penance".

Ksenia Luchenko, an expert on the Russian Orthodox Church and is critical of its leadership, said Savchenko's arrest was unique, however.

"If this is true, then this is the first case of detention of an active cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church who was not banned and not defrocked," Luchenko, who is based outside Russia, posted on her blog.

(Reporting by Anna Kozlova, editing by Mark Trevelyan and Angus MacSwan)