Russian Orthodox Church forming paramilitary units to bolster forces in Ukraine – SBU

The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church is creating its own "Orthodox PMCs" in Russia to recruit and train mercenaries to fight against Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine found.

The SBU claims that a "private military company" called St. Andrew's Cross operates in the Kronstadt Maritime Cathedral (Kronstadt is located on an island in the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg), and that right in the cathedral there is recruitment into Russian occupation groupings.

Recruiters prefer those who have already completed military service and have combat "experience", the SBU notes. Then the "church" mercenaries undergo training under the guidance of instructors from the Russian special services.

Such PMCs are financed by "representatives of the financial and industrial groups of the aggressor state, close to the head of the Kremlin", and the funds go to the accounts of the Russian Orthodox Church in the form of alleged charitable contributions and donations for the construction of churches.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 68 criminal proceedings have been opened against representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), of which 16 are against metropolitans, according to the SBU. 20 proceedings were opened under articles of treason, collaborationism and aiding the aggressor state.

26 representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) were charged, 19 more have already received court verdicts.

Today, the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading supported the bill, which provides legal grounds for banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).

According to the June 2023 survey of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the majority of Ukrainians began to support a complete ban on the UOC-MP.

In October 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine initiated a draft law on expanding the list of grounds for banning religious organizations and providing a legal basis for banning the UOC (Moscow Patriarchate).