Archimandrite of the Kherson diocese of the UOC (MP) received suspicion

The SBU has collected evidence of treason on the part of the former rector of one of the cathedrals of the Kherson diocese of the UOC-MP, Oleksiy, who is hiding in the temporarily occupied territories. This was reported by the SBU on 19 February.

After the seizure of the regional centre, he supported the Russian invaders and entered the closest entourage of Gauleiter Saldo, becoming his confessor," the security service said.

According to the investigation, the archimandrite regularly invited Saldo to church services, and during sermons he blessed the illegal referendum of the Russian Federation on "joining" the Kherson region to the aggressor country. In addition, the figure personally appealed to Moscow Patriarch Kirill with a request to include the local cathedral in the parish of the Russian Orthodox Church.

For the transition of the cleric to the side of the occupiers, they gave his cathedral seized territories of Ukrtelecom and local businessmen in the central part of Kherson. Along with this, on 30 September 2022, the traitor was invited to the St George's Hall of the Kremlin to participate in the "inclusion ceremony" of the temporarily captured regions of Ukraine into the Russian Federation, - reported in the SBU.

During the liberation of Kherson, the cleric fled with the Russian invaders to the left-bank part of the Kherson region. According to the SBU, there he became the secretary of the so-called Skadovska diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Based on the collected evidence, SBU investigators informed him in absentia of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• ч. 2 Art. 111 (high treason);
• ч. 1 Art. 111-2 (aiding and abetting an aggressor state).

Complex measures are being carried out to bring the attacker to justice for the committed offences.