Ukrainian Journalists Harass UOC Believers Praying in Private Apartments

NTA records the Sacrament of Confession through an open window. Photo: NTA/YouTube

LVIV — The popular Lviv-based TV channel NTA organized surveillance of Orthodox believers, exposed the addresses of private apartments where divine services are held, and labeled parishioners as “potential murderers” and “FSB agents.”

In the aired report titled “Where in Lviv Do They Still Pray for Putin and Patriarch Kirill? | The Moscow Patriarchate Underground,” NTA journalists led by Nadiya Kovalchyk admitted to conducting year-long surveillance of Fr. Volodymyr Sharabura, rector of the Holy Trinity Church that had been shut down by the authorities. The film crew repeatedly visited the church, tracked the priest’s movements, and then followed him to a residential building on Snopkivska Street.

The journalists entered the building and secretly filmed believers arriving for the service. The crew openly stated that their goal was “to record how supporters of the Moscow Church gather for worship.”

In the report, NTA journalists disclosed the exact addresses of two apartments where Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) believers gather for prayer – on Snopkivska Street and Dashka Street. They followed the priest and parishioners, filmed them both secretly and openly as they entered the apartment, and tried to show their faces.

The report also mentioned other alleged places of worship – in Velyki Kryvchytsi, in the areas of Vyhovsky Street, Lyubinska Street, Sykhiv, and Pasichna Street, though specific addresses for these were not revealed.

The report included the following accusations against UOC believers:

• “In these premises gather potential new murderers of new Parubiys. As the investigation into the murderer of Parubiy, Selnikov, shows, he carried out his anti-Ukrainian rhetoric while in Lviv. Perhaps he even had some connection there to the Moscow Patriarchate.” (Note: Andriy Parubiy was a member of the Ukrainian Parliament until his assassination this past August. The Security Service of Ukraine has said that Russian intelligence agencies ordered his assassination, and NTA is using these claims to draw connections to UOC parishioners).
• “The so-called priest or Russian agent turned out to be Serhiy Reznikov.”
• “FSB agents in cassocks recruit parishioners.”
• “This is already a ready-made army of saboteurs.”

When the owner of the apartment on Dashka Street tried to defend his rights, saying “You cannot film without my consent,” the journalists ignored his demands. The film crew continued their work despite the residents’ protests.

NTA journalists themselves admitted in the program: “During our work on the program, we uncovered only two underground cells of the Moscow Patriarchate.” They did not clearly define what treasonous activities were supposedly taking place in these "cells." They added that there are “many more such places,” effectively calling for the continuation of the hunt for believers.

Previously, UOJ reported that the U.S. Ambassador to NATO had demanded protection for the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

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