Pro-Russian literature, forged documents found during raids on Ukrainian Orthodox Church buildings: Security service

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) on Wednesday announced that it found pro-Russian literature, cash and forged documents during raids on the buildings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The security service along with the National Police and National Guard searched more than 350 buildings and 850 citizens and foreign nationals as part of security measures across Ukraine, an SBU statement said.

The statement said that among those questioned were Russian citizens.

“Some of them provided passports and military ID cards of the Soviet Union, some did not have original documents but only copies or had Ukrainian passports with signs of forgery or damage,” it said.

In May, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said it cut its ties with the Russian Church in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The SBU said that a Ukrainian national was found to be potentially involved in “the illegal activities of the pro-Russian news agency Antvan” during a search of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a monastery in the capital Kyiv.

Furthermore, measures implemented found literature used in teaching at the seminary and parish schools, including those containing “propaganda of the ‘Russian World’,” the statement said.

“Security measures identified cash totaling more than 2 million Ukrainian hryvnias ($54,385), more than $100,000 and several thousand Russian rubles,” the statement added.

On Tuesday, the SBU raided the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra among other monasteries in the country, such as the Korets Holy Trinity Monastery and the premises of the Sarnenskyi-Polska Eparchy.

“These measures take place jointly with the National Police and the National Guard within the framework of the SBU's systematic work to counter the subversive activities of the Russian special services in Ukraine,” said a Tuesday statement from the SBU.