The Chief of Ukrane’s SBU State Security Service Vasyl Hrytsak has said that the organizer and author of planned provocations in 20 churches of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) is a former employee of SBU. He is Yehor Sobolev, who is now one of the leaders of Russia-occupied Donetsk and coordinates his actions directly with the Russian State Security Service (FSB) in Rostov region, Russia.
“The SBU received a plan of so-called operational activities prepared in the so-called Interior Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic … to attack 20 UOC-MP churches in Ukraine,” Hrytsak said at a briefing in Kyiv on Feb. 18.
He said the plan involves sending messages to fake accounts allegedly on behalf of patriotic forces with threats of physical violence against the UOC, Greek Catholic Church, and Jewish religious communities in Ukraine.
Also, as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine noted, it was planned to inflict bodily harm on the representatives of the clergy of the UOC-MP, as well as to involve participants of the Anti-Terrorist Operations (ATO) in these actions.
Hrtysak said Sobolev was dismissed from the SBU in 2014 and that he is under investigation for criminal activities. He added implementation of Sobolev’s plan has been prevented.
