The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, said that Ukraine sent two priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to Russia, and one of them was exchanged for 28 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Malyuk did not name the priest.
Source. Malyuk said this in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Malyuk reminded that the investigation against some UOC clergy began last year. The priests are suspected of collaborating with Moscow, and some of them were found to have Russian passports.
The head of the SBU said that since the beginning of the investigation, Ukrainian courts have already passed seven sentences against UOC (MP) clergy who sided with the enemy. Another 19 clerics have been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship.
The Russian authorities did not report the exchange of the priest for 28 prisoners.
Earlier, NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilok said that there were many Russian agents among the priests of the Moscow Patriarchate.
"There were many representatives of the so-called Russian intelligence community in this institution [UOC-MP]. We have already exchanged some of them for our prisoners. These are facts that the Ukrainian community should know," Danilov said.
Background. Earlier, the abbot of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Pavlo Lebed, known as Pasha-Mercedes, was placed under house arrest.