SBU ISSUED WARNINGS TO TWO PRIESTS FOR PRO-RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA
Agents of the security service in Zhitomir province announced official warnings to two priests who conducted antigovernment propaganda in support of Russian aggression against Ukraine among their parishioners.
This was reported on Monday by the press center of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).
The rector of one of the rural churches disseminated among believers copies of anti-Ukrainian articles from Russian propaganda Internet sites and compact disks with pro-Russian video materials.
The priest "predicted" the imminent defeat of troops of the antiterrorist operation [ATO] in the east of Ukraine. He refused to serve prayers for the health of mobilized troops and the relatives of his parishioners who are participating in armed actions on the side of the forces of the ATO.
Another rector repeatedly defended before his parishioners, during services, the necessity of the federalization of Ukraine on the model of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. He maintained that terrorists supposedly are defending the goals of the true church and he justified the activity of representatives of the Russian federation in the illegally annexed and occupied territories of our state.
Incensed local residents complained to law enforcement agencies about the anti-Ukrainian position of the clergymen. Relatives of mobilized peasants were ready to enact vigilante justice for the clergymen, the SBU notes.
Personnel of the security service issued to the clergymen official warnings about the impermissibility of further illegal actions which damage the state security of Ukraine and warned them about criminal liability for crimes against the foundations of national security. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 September 2015)
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