Ukraine's Security Service detains pro-Russian agitators who advocated torture of Ukrainian POWs

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has detained four pro-Russian propagandists accused of backing Russia's armed aggression and publicly advocating the abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war and strikes on civilian cities.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine

Details: A senior deacon at a church in the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) was detained in Kyiv Oblast. He had used Telegram chats to advocate for violence against Ukrainian servicemen held in Russian captivity.

Quote: "The cleric has been documented as having urged the enemy to imprison our soldiers in Russian prisons, keep them for long periods without food or water, and 'put them through hell'."

Details: In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, investigators uncovered an archimandrite, the former parish priest of a church in the UOC-MP's Siverskodonetsk diocese, who travelled to Russia to meet with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church after parts of Luhansk Oblast were occupied in 2014. Upon his return to Ukraine, he continued to conduct services in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and encouraged his parishioners to support the Kremlin.

He has also justified Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities in private messages.

In Cherkasy Oblast, a notice of suspicion was served on an unemployed man who praised Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in messaging apps and called for Kyiv to be hit by an Oreshnik ballistic missile.

In Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, the authorities detained a woman from the Kosiv district who posted Soviet symbols on Facebook, called for the restoration of the USSR and urged Ukrainians to ignore the law.

All the suspects have been charged under provisions of the Criminal Code on the distribution of communist symbols and justification of Russia's armed aggression. They face up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of their assets.

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