A clergyman from the Kharkiv region has been charged with suspicion of Russian propaganda

Investigators of the Kupyansk district police department have announced suspicion to a 56-year-old local clergyman for justifying Russian aggression and the crimes of the occupiers. This was reported by... Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office and Kharkiv Oblast Police.

According to the investigation, in September 2022, a Ukrainian citizen, while staying at a temporary refugee center in Belgorod, Russia, voluntarily agreed to give an interview to propagandists. The recording was later published on a YouTube channel.

In the video, the priest spread narratives of Russian propaganda.

He claimed that what is happening in Ukraine is not a war, but an "internal civil conflict," emphasized the theses about a "single people," "common history," and "common Soviet past," and justified the actions of the Russian military. In particular, he shifted the responsibility for shelling and destruction to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The clergyman has been notified in absentia of suspicion of justifying and denying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. The issue of placing the suspect on the wanted list is currently being decided.

The penalty under this article provides for up to eight years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

• August 12, the Security Service of Ukraine detained / held / arrested In Odesa, two priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate are suspected of justifying Russian war crimes.