SBU came with a search to the Church of the Nativity in Ivano-Frankivsk: they were looking for weapons

The security service conducts counterintelligence security measures on the territory of the diocesan administration and the religious building of the local diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) in Ivano-Frankivsk. It is reported by the SBU in Ivano-Frankivsk region.

The searches are being carried out as part of the systematic work of the SBU to counter sabotage and subversive activities against Ukraine. 

“Given the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, the risks of committing crimes against the security of citizens, state sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine are growing,” the ministers of the law said. 

The SBU claims that the searches are carried out with the direct participation of representatives of the church and the diocese. Thus, they are trying to identify items prohibited for circulation (that is, weapons) and find Russian agents. 

The SBU clarified that the actions are carried out for:

• verification of data on intentions to use the diocese as a cell of the "Russian world";
• preventing the use of the premises of the UOC for sheltering citizens of the aggressor country, storing prohibited items, etc.;
• ensuring the safety of the population from provocations and terrorist acts.

Recall that this is not the first search in the churches of the UOC-MP. 22 November operatives worked in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra - they were also looking for weapons and money. At the same time, the SBU states that the service does not violate any laws and everything happens within the framework of the law. 

Later it became known that the SBU conducted searches not only in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but also in the Rivne region on the territory of the Koretsky Holy Trinity Monastery (Korets), the convent in honor of the Volyn Icon of the Mother of God (village of Serniki, Zarechny District) and on the premises of the Sarnensko-Polesye diocese of the UOC .