Is the Russian Orthodox Church pressing the government of Russia to ban Jehovah's Witnesses?

As early as today (April 7 2017) the Supreme Court of Russia may ban the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. This would make it a criminal offense for Jehovah's Witnesses even to meet together to pray. Additionally all of their properties will be seized by the Government. It is suggested that behind the scenes and even openly the Russian Orthodox Church is responsible for inciting this crack down on freedom of religion in Russia. An article in Christianity Today stated in part : > “A ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses is just the beginning in a series of repressions. Society needs an internal enemy to which the government can point in full cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church,” Cherenkov said. “The silence of Protestants with regard to repressions against Jehovah’s Witnesses will merely unleash a new wave of restrictions and repressions. Additionally see the article from Forbes entitled "An Un-Holy Alliance" [(Un)Holy Alliance: Vladimir Putin, The Russian Orthodox Church And Russian Exceptionalism](https://m.forbes.com/sites/paulcoyer/2015/05/21/unholy-alliance-vladimir-putin-and-the-russian-orthodox-church/?c=0&s=trending) Is the Russian Orthodox Church actually encouraging such intolerance? Update the Russian government has banned Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist group. (April 20,2017) See: https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN17M1ZT