INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kyiv's SBU security service said Wednesday it suspected a high-ranking cleric and head of east Ukraine's main monastery of having revealed
army positions to Russian forces.The SBU said it had "served a notice of suspicion to the Metropolitan of the Sviatohirsk Lavra who 'tipped
off'" Ukrainian positions in the Donetsk region to Russian forces.Metropolitan Arseniy is listed as the head of the medieval
monastery.Ukraine has for years accused the Moscow-linked branch of its Orthodox church of sowing separatist sentiment.The SBU said
to eight years in prison.He had "handed over to the occupiers the location of defense forces checkpoints in the Kramatorsk district of the
Donetsk region," it said in its statement.It also said the cleric had promoted "pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine even before
the start of Russia's full-scale invasion."The Sviatohirsk monastery lies on the Siverskyi Donets River.It was damaged by shelling in March
2022, at the start of the invasion.
