The Security Service of Ukraine reported the detention of two priests from the Odessa diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The Security Service of Ukraine reported the detention of two priests from the Odessa diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The SBU called the clergymen “Kremlin agitators,” accusing them of “spreading hostile propaganda” and “justifying Russia’s war in Ukraine.” The priests face up to eight years in prison, according to the agency’s website.

Among those detained is a 58-year-old priest from the Odessa diocese of the UOC. During conversations with parishioners, he allegedly “glorified the occupiers and insulted the religious beliefs of believers of other faiths.” In addition, the priest is accused of maintaining ties with former People’s Deputy from the Party of Regions Igor Markov, who is already suspected by the SBU of treason and is currently hiding in Russia.

He also had contact with collaborator Valery Kaur, who fled to Russia in 2014, where he announced the creation of the Kremlin project “Odessa People’s Republic — Novorossiya.” The SBU claims that, at Kaur’s request, the priest and his 23-year-old daughter took photos of themselves with blank sheets of paper in front of well-known locations in Odessa and then sent the photos to Russia. Russian propagandists then “drew” calls for the occupation of the regional center on the blank sheets of paper, which allegedly came from local residents.

Another person detained in the port city was a 44-year-old priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who allegedly justified Russian shelling of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in his sermons. Judicial linguistic examinations initiated by the Security Service confirmed the facts of subversive activities by the suspects in favor of the aggressor country.

SBU investigators charged both clergymen with crimes under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

Parts 2 and 3 of Article 436-2 (justification, recognition as lawful, denial of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants);
Part 1 of Article 161 (violation of the equality of citizens depending on their religious beliefs).

Recall that SBU Major General Viktor Yagun believes that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is incapable of creating a protest movement that could arise against the backdrop of the state’s attempts to ban the UOC. The security service employee is convinced that although the UOC has significant quantitative potential, there are not enough people who could lead anti-government protests.