The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has discovered that the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is creating its own private military companies (PMCs) in the Russian Federation. On the instructions of the Moscow Patriarchate, these PMCs recruit and train mercenaries for the war against Ukraine.
This was reported in the press service of SBU.
One such private military company is called "St. Andrewʼs Cross" and operates on the basis of the Kronstadt Maritime Cathedral in St. Petersburg. In this church, clerics recruit parishioners to the occupying Russian army.
After enlisting in the ranks of the church PMC, mercenaries undergo a course of military-tactical and fire training from instructors from the Russian special services. Training takes place within the walls of the cathedral or on special training grounds.
Representatives of financial and industrial groups close to the Kremlin finance such PMCs. The money goes to the accounts of the Russian Orthodox Church in the form of charitable contributions and donations for the construction of churches.
SBU is working to bring all those involved to justice.
- Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, according to SBU, 68 criminal proceedings have been initiated against representatives of the UOC MP, of which 16 are metropolitans. Among the crimes exposed are 20 facts of treason, collaborationism, and aiding and abetting the Russians.
- Currently, law enforcement officers are investigating 18 cases related to public agitation for religious hatred, as well as the sale of firearms and the distribution of child pornography.
- 26 clerics of the UOC MP were informed of the suspicion, and another 19 have already received court sentences.