In addition to Metropolitan Ionafan, two more priests of the UOC-MP were exchanged and sent to Russia. This was reported by Religiyna Pravda.
Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova said that these are Mykola Zakroyets and Oleksandr Lunyegov, convicted in Ukraine.
Lunehov, a cleric of the Dnipro diocese, was sentenced to five years on charges of justifying aggression against Ukraine. After his detention, investigators seized his mobile phone and found that the priest was subscribed to anti-Ukrainian publics such as MIR Z, Z, Army, and RF NEWS. He was also a member of the chatbot VoZmezdiye (Retribution), which was created to collect information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The second priest, rector of St George's Church of the UOC-MP in Yampol, Zakroyets, was sentenced to 15 years for high treason.
According to the court verdict, Zakroyets provided information about the address of residence and contacts of the head of the Yampol community. In addition, the man passed on information about the heads of law enforcement agencies in Shostka and Yampil, other heads of local authorities in the Shostka district and journalists in Yampil.
- As reported, recently, Metropolitan Ionafan Yeleckykh of Tulchyn and Bratslav of the UOC-MP, who was convicted in Ukraine, was taken to the border with Belarus and handed over to representatives of Russia. According to Russian media reports, Pope Francis facilitated Ionafan's release.