Russia uses religion to work with the local population under occupation

Archpriest Serhiy Chudynovych, rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (OCU) in Kherson, stated this in an interview with Radio Liberty's 'Novyny Pryazovia' project.

According to him, misdeeds are usually presented under the guise of something good.

"Evil always disguises itself as Good, repeating the same old trope: "Peace, friendship, brothers, one baptismal font," alluding to St. Volodymyr's baptism in Kyiv. They say we are one people, our roots are here, so they have a right to be here. This, of course, is not true. They use the Church because they know people have great trust in it. I can't say that everyone trusts the Church, no, but many certainly do," says the rector.

According to Chudynovych, the fact that Russia brings its priests to the occupied territories of Ukraine shows that this is a matter of principle for the Kremlin. Still, there are many collaborators among the priests, too.

"This directly concerns the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine, which is formally registered with the state authorities in Ukraine as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), while it is, in fact, part of the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church, the one headed by the Patriarch of Moscow. There are many such priests. Respected SBU officers can go and check any church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and every first priest there will be a collaborator. You don't have to go far to see that," says Serhiy Chudynovych.

Archpriest Serhiy Chudynovych, a priest of the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (OCU), who was abducted by Russians on March 30, 2022, was perhaps the first to tell his story of inhuman abuse, torture, and threats of rape. He posted his appeal on Facebook in April 2022 after he managed to escape from occupied Kherson.