The Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office has gathered evidence against the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Volodymyr Gundyaev, who promotes the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and denies the war crimes of the occupiers.
It is to be noted that, the details about the above mentioned has been shared by the Security Service of Ukraine via their official social media handle. According to the investigation, the Moscow patriarch is a member of the inner circle of Russia’s top military and political leadership and was one of the first to publicly support a full-scale war against Ukraine.
As per the details, “In order to spread propaganda, he massively uses religious communities of the Russian Orthodox Church under his control on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the UOC (MP) in Ukraine.”
In addition, Gundyaev regularly spreads Kremlin narratives in the form of online sermons or his own video comments.
In particular, it is documented that in March 2022, an “article about the liturgy was published on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church, where the cleric blessed Zolotov, the commander of the Russian Rosguard, for the war against Ukraine.”
Also, at the end of February 2023, a video was released on the official YouTube channel of the ROC, in which Gundyaev justifies the occupation of eastern Ukraine.
In addition, the patriarch repeatedly gave comments to propagandists from the central TV channels of Russia, in which he supported the aggressive policy of the Kremlin and called on the faithful to unite in the war against Ukraine.
An examination initiated by the SBU confirmed the facts of the activity of the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
On the basis of the collected evidence, Gundyaev was notified of suspicion under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
▪️ Part 3 Art. 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine);
▪️ Part 3 Art. 436-2 (justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants);
▪️ Part 5 Art. 27 and Part 2 of Art. 437 (planning, preparation, initiation and waging of an aggressive war).
Comprehensive measures are underway to bring the person involved to justice for crimes against our state.