Aleksiy Fedorov, the former rector of the Cathedral of the Kherson Diocese of the UOC-MP hiding in Crimea, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia for high treason.
According to the SBU, during the occupation of the Kherson region, Aleksiy cooperated with the Russians and local gauleiter Vladimir Saldo, LB.ua reports.
The cleric regularly invited Saldo to the church to deliver pro-Kremlin speeches to the faithful. During the services, the convict blessed the holding of a pseudo-referendum on the “accession” of the Kherson region to Russia.
Aleksiy personally appealed to Moscow Patriarch Kirill with a request to include the local cathedral in the Russian Orthodox Church. As gratitude for his support of the occupiers, the archimandrite received seized real estate in the center of Kherson and an invitation to the Kremlin to participate in the “ceremony of inclusion” of the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine in the Russian Federation.
When Kherson was liberated by Ukrainian troops, the cleric fled with the Russian invaders, first to the left bank of the Kherson region, and then to Crimea.
The court found Fedorov guilty under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: high treason committed under martial law and aiding the aggressor state.
The presence of the traitor archimandrite in the Kremlin in 2022 was recorded by cameras broadcasting the announcement of the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories.
The Ukrainian priest sat in the front row next to Ramzan Kadyrov and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, surrounded by top Russian politicians.
In addition to Fedorov, the event was attended by Metropolitan Panteleimon (Povorozniuk) of Luhansk and Alchevsk and Archimandrite Ivan (Prokopenko), rector of the St. Savva Monastery in Melitopol, which is part of the Zaporizhzhia Diocese of the UOC-MP. Both, according to media reports, were noted for their cooperation with the occupiers and local collaborators.