Ex-FSB officer becomes OCU cleric
New OCU cleric I. Bogdanov previously served in Russia's FSB.
Oleksandr Drabinko "ordained" Ilya Bogdanov, a former officer of the FSB Border Guard Service of Russia.
As the OCU reports, Bogdanov will now carry out chaplain service in the "Russian Volunteer Corps," operating as part of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. "From now on I am a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and a chaplain of the Russian Volunteer Corps," Bogdanov said.
Ilya Bogdanov is a native of Vladivostok and a former FSB officer who defected to Ukraine's side in 2014. He took part in hostilities in Donbass, and in 2015 received Ukrainian citizenship personally from President Poroshenko.
In March of this year, Oleksandr Drabinko "ordained" him a deacon, after which Bogdanov declared that he was returning to the front without the right to kill: "I served with the sword, now I will serve with the word."
As the UOJ reported, a Ukrainian MP stated that militants who seize churches may be acting on orders from Russian intelligence services.
