Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has exposed more than 60 representatives who worked for the Russian Federation, sold weapons and child pornography.
SBU reported this on October 4.
Thus, the Service initiated 68 criminal cases against representatives of the UOC MP, of which 14 are metropolitans.
Among the crimes exposed:
- 20 facts of treason, collaborationism and Russiaʼs complicity;
- 18 cases related to public agitation for religious hatred, as well as sale of firearms and distribution of child pornography.
To date, 26 suspects have been charged, and 19 perpetrators have been sentenced.
Thanks to this, it was possible to exchange two convicted representatives of the UOC MP for Ukrainian soldiers who were in captivity. We are talking about the abbot of the Holy Tikhvin Church of the Severodonetsk Diocese of the UOC MP, who in April 2022 handed over members of the resistance movement to the Russian occupiers. The abbot received 12 years in prison, and then he was exchanged with the Russian military.
The second case of exchange is a representative of the Horlivka Diocese of the UOC MP, who, after the capture of Lyman, organized a meeting of community residents to elect the leadership of the local occupation administration. He received 7 years of imprisonment, then he was exchanged for Ukrainian defenders.
Also, at the initiative of the Security Service of Ukraine, 19 representatives of the UOC MP, who have Russian passports and spread pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine, have had their citizenship revoked. Among them are metropolitans from the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions and from the temporarily occupied Crimea. SBU also banned the entry of 177 representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- At the end of 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine began to check the dioceses of the UOC MP. During this time, Russian literature, passports, propaganda materials, calls for the capture of Kyiv were found in the churches, and the abbots of the churches collected information for the Russians about the defense of the regions, helped the evaders to flee abroad, blessed the Russian military, called on the occupiers to kill Ukrainians, and traded in Russian weapons and ammunition. In total, SBU initiated 68 criminal proceedings against representatives of the UOC MP, of which 14 were metropolitans.