Among the detainees is the 58-year-old priest of the Temple of the Odessa Diocese, who during conversations with parishioners “heroized the invaders and insulted the religious beliefs of believers of other faiths,” the report said.
The defendant maintained ties with the former people's deputy from the Party of Regions Igor Markov, who is already suspicious of the SBU for state treason and is now hiding in Russia, the press service said. They added that, in addition, he contacted Valery Kaurov, who escaped to the Russian Federation in 2014, where he announced the creation of the Kremlin project “Odessa People’s Republic – Novorossia” in 2014.
“By order of Kaurov, Kuurov, a cleric, together with his 23-year-old daughter, was photographed with clean sheets of paper against the backdrop of the famous locations of Odessa, and then sent pictures in the Russian Federation. After that, Russian propagandists” finished “calls to the occupation of the regional center, which supposedly sounded from local residents. In the future, the Holds of the Kremlin” dispersed ” Mounted fakes on grown-ups and Telegram channels under the guise of publications of the pro-Russian “underground,” the SBU emphasized.
Another detainee in the port city is the 44-year-old Archpriest of the UOC MP, who, according to the special services, in his sermons “justified Russian shelling of the civil infrastructure of Ukraine.”
Forensic-linguistic examinations confirmed the facts of information and subsidiary activities of the defendants in favor of the aggressor country, the press service noted.
SBU investigators informed both clergy about suspicions on the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- HCh. 2, 3 tbsp. 436-2 (justification, recognition of lawful, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the glorification of its participants);
- Part 1 of Art. 161 (violation of the equality of citizens depending on their religious beliefs).
The defendants face up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.
