OCU representatives suspect Phanar's exarch in Ukraine of ties to pro-Russian forces over corruption scandal

The Exarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine, Mikhail Anishchenko, found himself at the center of a high-profile scandal after he expressed his readiness to bail out former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshev, who was accused of corruption. This move caused a wide public outcry, and some representatives of the OCU even expressed «suspicions of the exarch’s possible work in the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church» as Chernyshev’s case is closely linked to the former Ukrainian politician and now Russian Senator Andriy Derkach.

Mikhail Anishchenko was one of the three people who offered to bail Alexei Chernyshev. The official is a subject of an investigation into corruption at Energoatom. According to the investigation, Chernyshov used the services of a money laundering «laundromat» whose conditional headquarters was located in Andrii Derkach’s apartment in Kyiv. Law enforcement officers documented the transfer of more than USD 1.2 million and almost EUR 100 thousand in cash to the suspect and his proxy.

The situation was commented on by the odious chaplain of the OCU, Sergei Dmitriev. «In fact, Derkach was the curator of the UOC-MP… What a «coincidence» that the meetings of our top corrupt officials took place at Derkach’s apartment,» Dmitriev said.

According to the chaplain, the exarch’s attempt to defend the defendant in this case may indicate that he has serious obligations to the «corruption mafia.» Dmitriev emphasized that Bishop Anishchenko himself admitted that he did not coordinate his actions with the Patriarch of Constantinople, whose official representative he is in Ukraine. «I can’t even imagine what kind of obligations one must have… to disregard a high church rank and publicly side with the corrupt mafia,» said the priest.

Sergei Dmitriev also recalled the past of Mikhail Anishchenko, who, according to him, «lived in the orbit of Moscow for a very long time and very well.» This fact, combined with the defense of a person associated with a pro-Russian figure, raised the main question. «If he was financed or otherwise interested by Chernyshov, who was involved in the ‘church curator’ Derkach, then was the ‘exarch’ promoting the interests of the Russian Church?» the OCU chaplain summarized.

Earlier we reported that Alexei Chernyshev, accused of corruption, who was vouched for by the Exarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine, Bishop Mikhail Anishchenko of Koman, turned out to be the curator of the issue of granting the Phanar’s exarchate to the UOC.