During the four years of the war in Donbas, the religious and related of the UOC (MP) have been used by Russian intelligence services for conducting intelligence operations, and the clergy representatives of this denomination are involved in terrorist activities and support of militants.
In Donbas, Russia actively involves clergymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in its activities against Ukraine.
During the four years of the war in Donbas, the religious and related of the UOC (MP) have been used by Russian intelligence services for conducting intelligence operations, and the clergy representatives of this denomination are involved in terrorist activities and support of militants.
Valery Udovychenko and Julia Laputina, colonels of SSU, told about this at the round table themed “Aggression of RF against Ukraine: historical parallels and modern dimension” in Pokrovsk city, Donetsk region, according to Vchasno Information Agency.
The Security Service officials provided examples how the bishops of the UOC (Moscow Patriarchate) in Donbas voluntarily become servants of the Kremlin regime.
Thus, in 2014 in Donetsk region, the monks of the Holy Assumption Svyatogorsk Lavra placed on the reverse side of the icon of the Mother of God a new prayer of pro-Russian content and distributed it on Easter holidays.
In 2014, Igor Girkin, one of the leaders of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”, along with other militants, found asylum in one of the churches of the UOC-MP in Slovyansk, where the terrorist also organized his battalion and blessed their weapons.
“In fact, the churches of the UOC (MP) became centers that relied on all in their activities against Ukraine,” Valeriy Udovychenko said.
Currently, the SSU conducts an investigation into the activities of the UOC (the Moscow Patriarchate) throughout the territory of Ukraine.
“The investigation is carried out through scientific expertise, the identification of documents, testimony of people who saw or participated in the activities of the UOC-MP,” said Col. Yulia Laputina. “The witnesses are questioned and the evidence is collected, church literature is explored for the purpose of finding out manipulative texts.”
Yulia stressed that Russia's invasion of Crimea and Donbas was preceded by a long period of latent aggression and the spread of manipulative technology precisely in the church sector.