The Security Service of Ukraine has completed counter-intelligence operations in the dioceses of the UOC MP, which are located in the Zakarpattia, Rivne, and Zhytomyr regions.
This was reported by the SBU press service.
Warehouses with pro-Russian literature, Nazi symbols, "teachings about Satanism" and texts of prayers for Moscow Patriarch Kirill were found on the territory of dioceses.
In addition, symbols of the banned OPzZh party and brochures praising the Russian occupiers were found in the St. Nicholas Menʼs Monastery in the Khust district of Transcarpathia. Propaganda books by Russian authors justifying Russiaʼs war against Ukraine and urging people to join the ranks of the occupiers were also stored there.
And on the territory of the Rivne-Ostroga eparchy, they found hidden Belarusian cash and brochures with calls for peace with the "fraternal Russian people", glorification of the "Russian land" and "Russian soldiers". They were written by authors from Belarus and the Russian Federation.
People who are in contact with the Russians were discovered in the St. Anastasia Stauropygian Convent and two hermitages in Zhytomyr region. Currently, SBU employees are studying these contacts.
All seized materials were sent for examination.
- At the end of November, the SBU conducted a number of searches in churches, monasteries, and laurels of the UOC MP, in particular in Kyiv-Pecherska. The series of searches began after a scandal over a prayer service in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, during which parishioners sang the song "The bell is ringing, itʼs ringing over Russia, Mother-Rus is waking up." The priest was informed of suspicion of this.
- Subsequently, the SBU conducted searches in monasteries in Transcarpathia, in the Mukachevo diocese, in the Ivano-Frankivsk diocese, in the Pochaiv seminary, and in the Ternopil diocese. During the searches, numerous pieces of evidence of pro-Russian propaganda and probable cooperation of representatives of the UOC-MP with Russia were found.
- On December 1, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instructed the government to submit a draft law to the Verkhovna Rada to ban the activities of religious organizations affiliated with Russia in Ukraine. First of all, this will affect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.