Priests who are part of what has until recently been called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate collaborated with the militants of the Russian terrorist leader Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov), that's according to a volunteer and coordinator of "Myr i Co" Foundation, Myroslav Hai.
"I'll tell you, in Slaviansk, during the events of 2014 [the start of hostilities in eastern Ukraine], the UOC MP helped Girkin’s terrorists, those Russian mercenaries, by conducting reconnaissance. Under the guise of pilgrims, they would penetrate the Ukraine-controlled territory,” he told Pryamyi TV channel.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on Dec 20 passed a bill to rename the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP).
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Ukrainian MP from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction Oleksandr Bryhynets said if "the state is recognized as the aggressor state, the church whose administration is located in the territory of the aggressor state must have in its title the full name of the church to which it is subordinate."
The legislation introduces only one restriction: the church "subordinated to the aggressor state has no right to be represented in military units on the front line."
