According to sources within the security service, the ex-head of the Crimean SBU, Oleg Kulynych, who is suspected of treason, regularly attended meetings with the Primate of the UOC-MP.
According to NV, this was reported by BBC Ukraine.
The material in the publication suggests that Kulynych and the former head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, were connected through their shared faith in the Moscow Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP).
"Bakanov did not hide his active participation in the UOC-MP congregation. Kulynych, too, was a believer in this Church. Sources in the SBU affirm that he would even greet everyone with 'Lord, Save Us,' and regularly attended meetings with the Primate of the UOC-MP, Metropolitan Onufriy," the publication stated.
The article also refutes speculations that Bakanov and Kulynych might have met through the religious sect of AllatRa.
According to the report, they first met in 2019 during the presidential election campaign. Back then, representatives of the current President Volodymyr Zelensky's team, including Bakanov, organized the work of the election headquarters and traveled across the country in search of experts who could provide advice on various matters. The introduction to Kulynych happened during this period, as per BBC Ukraine.
On July 16, 2022, Kulynych was detained during a special operation carried out by the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) and the SBU.
According to the investigation, he collaborated with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and operated under the codename "Kotyhoroshko." His activities were overseen by the so-called "political office" in Moscow, organized by the Russian intelligence services and headed by former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Sivkovich and former Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Andriy Klyuyev.
Based on the investigation's version of events, even before Russia's full-scale invasion, Kulynych was spying for the aggressor country, arranging the placement of "his people" within law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, and inciting citizens to commit acts of state treason.
Kulynych faces charges under five articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and is currently in custody, with a possible prison sentence of up to 15 years.