The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO) reported suspicion of encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine to 14 Russian metropolitans who contributed to the seizure of Ukrainian churches in the temporarily occupied territories.
This is reported by PGO and SBU.
The list of suspects:
- Alexander Snigur (Artemiy) — Metropolitan of Khabarovsk and Amur region;
- Mikhail Kondratiev (Mefodiy) — Bishop of Kamyansk and Kamyshylivsky;
- Vitaliy Yermakov (Amvrosiy) — Metropolitan of Tver and Kashinsky;
- Leonid Gorbachev — Patriarchal Exarch of Africa;
- Andriy Malakhanov — Archbishop of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka;
- Peter Mansurov (Petro) — Bishop of Kalachyn and Muromtsev;
- Mykola Tserpytsky (Lev) — Metropolitan of Novgorod and Old Russia;
- Yuriy Epifanov (Arseny) — Metropolitan of Lipetsk and Zadonsk;
- Mikhail Nakonechny (Kyril) — Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan;
- Oleksiy Kryvenko (Mykola) — Bishop of North Baikal and Sosnovo-Ozersk;
- Valery Golubev (Ilya) — Archbishop of Anadyr and Chukotka;
- Yan Kaigorodtsev (Illarion) — Bishop of Kineshma and Palekh;
- Ilya Perov (Tarasiy) — Bishop of the Pivnichnomorsk and Umb;
- Alexander Taranov (Arkadiy) — Archbishop of Rovenky and Sverdlovsk.
The investigation found that the defendants, led by Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, contributed to the seizure of property of Ukrainian churches in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, in particular in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson regions, as well as in Crimea.
To do this, the clergy obtained a decision from the Moscow Synod on the "inclusion" of the Dzhankoy, Berdyansk, Rovenky, and Kherson dioceses into the Russian Church. The suspects carried out the decision of the Russian Synod and, as a result, seized the Ukrainian churches and the land that belonged to them.
Bishops who are controlled by Moscow were also appointed there. These bishops spread Kremlin propaganda among the faithful, supported Russiaʼs war against Ukraine, and justified the actions of the occupiers.
SBU says that comprehensive measures are currently underway to hold clergy accountable for crimes against Ukraine.
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