About ten clergymen of the UOC (MP) came under restrictions.
The National Security Council of Ukraine introduced sanctions against clergymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. About ten clerics, including the vicar of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Pavlo (Lebeda), came under the restrictions. Former deputy Vadym Novinsky is also included in the list.
This information was shared anonymously by interlocutors from the team of the President of Ukraine in a conversation with journalists of the “Ukrainian Pravda” publication. Sanctions were imposed mainly on clerics who remained in the temporarily occupied territories.
The NSDC made the decision on sanctions yesterday, December 1, at a meeting after “considering the activities of religious organizations on the territory of Ukraine in the conditions of Russia’s military aggression and to ensure spiritual independence, prevent splits in society on religious grounds, promote the consolidation of Ukrainian society and protect the national interests of Ukraine.” .
Today, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi introduced personal sanctions against certain members of religious organizations associated with the Russian Federation.
Search in the churches of the UOC MP: the latest information
Law enforcement officers began examining religious objects in the second half of November. Inspections were carried out in many oblasts — Kyiv, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Rivne. As a result, propaganda materials and a lot of cash were found.
Some of the clergy passed in-depth checks using a polygraph. The suspect was handed over to the priest of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, who glorified “Mother Rus”, and the metropolitan of the Kirovohrad diocese of the UOC (MP).
Today, December 2, searches continue on the territory of temples in three regions – Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Zakarpattia.
The National Security Council instructed the government to submit to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration a draft law prohibiting the activity in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation. This applies specifically to the UOC (MP).
