He was arrested without bail.
The rector of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra (MP), Metropolitan Arseniy, who disseminated information about the location of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Donetsk region, was taken into custody. The Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office reports this.
It is noted that in September 2023, the rector of the monastery disseminated information of a military nature. In particular, during his sermon, he told the believers about the locations of checkpoints, as well as units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, SBU, NPU and the Defense Forces of Ukraine on the territory of the Svyatogorsk community.
He was chosen as a preventive measure in the form of detention without the alternative of posting bail. The rector faces up to 8 years in prison.
Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine informed the priest of suspicion under Part 2 of Art. 114-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (dissemination of information about the movement, movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if it is possible to identify them on the ground).
According to the intelligence service, the cleric “surrendered” to the occupiers the location of Defense Forces checkpoints in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region.
“This happened during his liturgy. Then the vicar, using a video recording, told the parishioners the addresses of the checkpoints of the Ukrainian troops. Subsequently, this video was published on the Lavra’s website and in the local group of the Telegram channel. Thus, the cleric tried to covertly leak to the aggressor the locations of the Ukrainian checkpoints in the front-line area “, the message says.
According to the investigation, the Metropolitan expressed pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine even before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. In particular, this is evidenced by the vicar’s repeated interviews, in which he called the armed aggression of the Russian Federation a “civil conflict.”
A church choir member “aimed” missiles at positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Zaporozhye
In the Zaporozhye region, the Security Service of Ukraine detained a church chorister and the wife of the rector of a local UOC (MP) church, who was correcting enemy air attacks on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
From the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the woman supported the actions of the Russian invaders and hoped to capture the entire southern region of Ukraine.
