The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) conducts at the facilities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Poltava region.
This was reported by the SSU press service.
The searches are being conducted in the Mharsk Spaso-Preobrazhensky Menʼs Monastery of the Poltava and Myrhorod Diocese of the UOC MP and the diocesan administration of the Kremenchuk and Lubensk Diocese of the UOC MP.
Law enforcement officers inspect the territory and premises in order to identify persons who "may be involved in activities to the detriment of the state sovereignty of Ukraine, and objects prohibited for circulation."
- At the end of November, the SSU conducted a number of searches in churches, monasteries and laurels of the UOC MP, in particular in Kyiv-Pechersk. 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 Russia is waking up." The priest was informed of suspicion for this.
- Subsequently, the SSU 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 evidences of pro-Russian propaganda and probable cooperation of representatives of the UOC-MP with Russia were found.
- On December 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instructed the government to submit to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law banning the activities of religious organizations affiliated with Russia in Ukraine. First of all, this will affect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.