Ukrainian intelligence announces seizure of propaganda in Russian Orthodox churches and blurs face of cat 'agent'
Ukrainian intelligence said Thursday agents had seized propaganda from Russian Orthodox churches.
In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine said it found Russian passports and looted icons.
It also released a photo of the agents, among whom was a cat whose face was blurred.
Ukraine's chief intelligence agency Thursday said its agents had seized Kremlin propaganda found inside Russian Orthodox churches, releasing a photo of its agents with their faces blurred that for some reason included a cat whose identity was also concealed.
In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine said that searches of Russian Orthodox properties in formerly occupied eastern portions of the country also uncovered Russian passports, flags representing the Russian-backed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics, and a "collection of icons stolen by rioters" from the Lithuanian consul in Kherson.
The SBU also said it found documents indicating that Russian Orthodox priests were collaborating with the Russian government and its occupation authorities in Kherson. Ukrainian forces took back the city of Kherson in November after nearly nine months of Russian occupation there.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the Russian Orthodox Church of seeking to "weaken Ukraine from within" amid calls from some to ban the organization. In September, Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the church, said Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine would be absolved of their sins.
Perhaps the most attention-grabbing aspect of the SBU's statement was not what it said it found but who it suggested took part in finding it.
A photo included in the release shows seven humans identified as "SBU employees," their faces blurred to conceal their identities. At their feet, is a black cat sitting on a bed of snow — its face also pixelated. (A second cat without a clear face is near some agents' feet.)
It's unclear what, if any, role the animal played in the counterintelligence investigation. The SBU did not immediately return a request for comment.
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