{"id":84651,"date":"2026-07-20T08:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=84651"},"modified":"2026-07-20T08:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:58:23","slug":"every-russian-orthodox-priest-abroad-is-linked-to-russian-intelligence-former-hur-official-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/every-russian-orthodox-priest-abroad-is-linked-to-russian-intelligence-former-hur-official-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Russian Orthodox Priest Abroad Is Linked to Russian Intelligence, Former HUR Official Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From <em>United24 Media:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.united24media.com\/thumbs\/1014x676\/6\/05\/9afbceb3df4e77ae915f6eb6016fe056.jpg\" alt=\"Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill leads the Orthodox Easter service at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on April 12, 2026. (Source: Getty Images)\" width=\"278\" height=\"185\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0former senior official of\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence agency has claimed that every Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) priest serving abroad is\u00a0either recruited by\u00a0or\u00a0affiliated with Russian intelligence services, describing the church as\u00a0part of\u00a0Moscow\u2019s broader influence network in\u00a0Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at\u00a0the \u201cRussian Orthodox Church in\u00a0Europe: Infrastructure of\u00a0Russian Influence\u201d forum, former Deputy Chief of\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s Defense Intelligence (HUR) Major General Illia Pavlenko\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.ua\/rus\/news\/kozhen-svyashchennik-rpts-kordonom-zaverbovaniy-1784393484.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener nofollow\">said<\/a>\u00a0the ROC is\u00a0used by\u00a0multiple Russian intelligence agencies for espionage and information operations, according to\u00a0<em>RBC-Ukraine<\/em> on\u00a0July\u00a018. \u201cThe ROC is\u00a0a\u00a0structure that acts in\u00a0the interests of\u00a0the aggressor state and is\u00a0used by\u00a0all Russian intelligence services: the SVR, the military GRU, and the\u00a0FSB. Any ROC priest who goes abroad is\u00a0either recruited or\u00a0holds ranks within the Russian special services,\u201d Pavlenko said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From United24 Media: A\u00a0former senior official of\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence agency has claimed that every Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) priest serving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-84651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}