The Security Service of Ukraine informed about the suspicion of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Kirill. According to the investigation, he blessed the occupiers to kill Ukrainians and publicly supported the war.
The press service of the SBU writes about this.
Vladimir Gundyaev, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is a member of the inner circle of Russiaʼs top military and political leadership, uses Russian churches, as well as representatives of the UOC-MP in Ukraine to spread propaganda.
For example, in March 2022, the website of the Russian Orthodox Church published an article about a liturgy in which a cleric blessed Zolotov, the commander of the Russian Guard, for the war against Ukraine, and at the end of February 2023, a video appeared on the official YouTube channel of the Russian Orthodox Church in which Gundyaev justified the occupation of eastern Ukraine.
He was informed of suspicions of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, justifying the aggression of the Russian Federation, preparing and waging war (Part 3 of Article 110, Part 3 of Article 436-2, Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 2 of Article 437).
- Since the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, according to the SBU, 70 criminal proceedings have been initiated against representatives of the UOC MP, of which 16 are metropolitans of the church.