The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had evidence that UOC priests (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate) are cooperating with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, said that the priests of the UOC (MP) provide the FSB with information about the Ukrainian military and law enforcement officers, and also help Russian invaders to conduct reconnaissance and subversive activities.
“If someone wearing a cassock adjusts via his phone enemy fire targeting a residential quarter in Luhansk region, what does this have to do with God? Can a cassock and some incense serve as an indulgence in this case? Of course they can’t. We will bring them to justice, like anyone else,” Maliuk said in an interview with ICTV, NV reports.
He emphasized that the Ukrainian security service does not target clerics in general.
The head of the SBU noted that law enforcement have issues only with those who work against Ukraine, “covering their FSB uniforms with cassocks.”
According to his data, 23 Russian assets acting under the guise of clerics have already been sentenced in Ukraine.
“These are various crimes — from treason to inciting religious enmity. Also, charges were pressed against 37 priests and more than 80 criminal proceedings were initiated,” he added.
