A priest with Russian citizenship was detained in the Chernihiv region

An Orthodox priest with Russian citizenship was detained in the Chernihiv region. According to available information, the detainee served at the Transfiguration Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Novhorod-Siverskyi. He now faces deportation from Ukraine. This was reported by Suspilne Chernihiv.

Based on the court’s decision, the man stated that he came to Ukraine in 2009. According to him, it was a calling of the heart. He served at the Transfiguration Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Novgorod-Siverskyi. Prior to that, he served at a church in Moscow. He has relatives and a daughter living in Moscow, Russia. The man also has many relatives in Ukraine. He asked the court to set a shorter detention period, as he plans to obtain documents and return to Ukraine.

The priest was detained on August 5, 2025, by employees of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region. Despite the man’s statements, according to the agency, he crossed the state border to enter Ukraine on February 20, 2014, for personal reasons and lived here with a Russian passport. Since his legal stay in Ukraine expired on May 20, 2014, he was brought to administrative responsibility under Part 2 of Article 203 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and detained.

The document states that when the man entered Ukraine, an agreement with the government of the Russian Federation on visa-free travel for Ukrainians and Russians was in force. It expired on July 1, 2022. During the court hearing, it became known that the priest did not have a document entitling him to travel abroad. He is staying in Ukraine without legal grounds.

For identification and forced expulsion from the territory of Ukraine, the court decided to detain the Russian citizen and place him in a temporary detention center for foreigners and stateless persons who are illegally staying in Ukraine.