The SBU served notice of suspicion on the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill
As reported by the agency's press service, the SBU and the Prosecutor General's Office have gathered evidence against the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Gundyayev (known as Kirill), who promotes Russia's armed aggression and denies war crimes committed by Russian troops.
"According to the investigation, the Moscow patriarch is a member of the inner circle of Russia's top military and political leadership and was one of the first to publicly support a full-scale war against Ukraine. To spread propaganda, he extensively uses religious communities of the Russian Orthodox Church under his control on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) in Ukraine," the report says.
In addition, according to the SBU, Gundyaev "regularly spreads Kremlin narratives" in the form of online sermons or his own video comments. "In particular, it is documented that in March 2022, an "article" about the liturgy was published on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church, where the cleric blessed the commander of the Rosgvardia Zolotov for the war against Ukraine. Also, at the end of February 2023, a video was released on the ROC's official YouTube channel in which Gundyaev justified the occupation of the East of Ukraine. In addition, the patriarch repeatedly gave interviews to propagandists of Russia's central TV channels, in which he supported the Kremlin's aggressive policy and called on the faithful to unite in the war against Ukraine," the special service said.
The SBU specified that Kirill is suspected under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine;
- justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants;
- planning, preparation, launching and conducting an aggressive war.
According to the Security Service, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, 70 criminal proceedings have been initiated against representatives of the UOC-MP, with 16 of them being metropolitans of the Church.
