A Russian priest in Ukraine, Archimandrite Nikita, was allegedly caught in bed with a minor. Though the priest claims he was set up by the Ukrainian security service due to the church’s links to Russia.
It comes as Ukrainian forces raid church premises following suggestions priests are promoting pro-Russian views.
He posted a video message on social media in which he claimed that agents from the SBU (the Ukrainian security service) undressed and photographed everyone who was in his consistory at the time of a search.
Nikita said: ‘Those of us in the diocese were awakened from our sleep, taken from our cells, put against the wall, stripped, and apparently photographed.’
Romania Posts English reports him as adding, ‘And then, of course, all kinds of obscene details were added…’ alleging that the priests were threatened with being shot.
The SBU has thus explained that the searches were taken as part of a systematic work “to counter the subversive activities of Russian special services in Ukraine’.
According to outlet LB.ua, during searches in the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC, the SBU found its secretary in bed with a boy from the local choir.
The journalists also published a photo showing Archimandrite Nikita with a boy in his underwear.
Correspondence of diocesan leaders with Moscow was also allegedly exposed, in which they receive “methodology” to ‘hold church services favourable to the large-scale invasion of Ukraine’.
During the search, the SBU found ‘wholesale batches of pro-Kremlin literature praising Russia and calling for support for the occupiers’.
Reacting to the allegations, Archimandrite Nikita. said: ‘The Lord is the judge of all, if they have evidence, let them prove.’
The search from the Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bucovina was said to have lasted 12 hours, and as a result of the investigation ‘law enforcement officers discovered documents that confirm the presence of Russian citizenship in the management of diocesan structures’.
