In St. Petersburg, Orthodox priest Nikolai Savchenko was arrested for 14 days, reported the organization «Christians Against War» citing the priest himself. He was taken by the police directly from the church and subsequently brought to court.
In 2014, the priest published photos from an anti-war rally on «VKontakte». The description of the photo includes a quote from the Bible: «Thus says the Lord: do not go and do not start a war with your brothers». The flag he held in the photo was considered by the court as extremist symbols of the OUN («Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists»), which in September 2022, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized as «extremist».
The priest is a cleric of the St. Petersburg Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving in the Church of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow.
As reported by «OVD-Info»*, he has repeatedly conducted services at the Solovetsky Stone in memory of the victims of the Great Terror.
* Recognized in Russia as an «foreign agent».