Court confiscates funds allocated by Russia to oppose OCU
Pechersk District Court of Kyiv granted permission to confiscate $5 thousand for the benefit of the state, which was intended to persuade people into toppling the constitutional order (Part 1 Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
This is reported by Glavkom media that cited the court ruling of October 29.
According to the pre-trial investigation, unidentified citizens of Ukraine were selecting persons who were to organize radical actions for an appropriate monetary reward. The funds for these actions were received during their visit to the territory of the Russian Federation. Possible dates scheduled to realize their criminal intentions were the anniversary of the tragic events of Euromaidan or the date of the creation of the one Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
As for $5 thousand, these funds were received in Moscow by two Ukrainians from a citizen of Russia in late November 2018. For this reward, they had to conduct in Kyiv a series of mass religion-related events, including those that may be aimed at disrupting Ukraine's receipt of the Tomos and using this fact to destabilize the socio-political situation (rallies, radical actions, mass demonstrations, acts of civil disobedience, etc.).
After arrival to Ukraine, they turned to employees of the Main Department of SSU in Kyiv and Kyiv region and gave an account of all circumstances.
In addition, as part of this episode, the security services also checked the likely involvement of the rector of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavlo of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate. In particular, the cleric had a meeting in the administrative building of the monastery at 15 Lavrska street with two Ukrainians who took money from a Russian curator. All communication was recorded by security services.
It should be added that in late November 2018, the SSU initiated a search of the premises of Metropolitan Pavlo of the UOC-MP as part of the investigation into the case of inciting sectarian strife.
