"I didn't pay attention to him." Metropolitan Onufri confirmed that the Russian passport had

The Metropolitan stated that he received a residence permit in Russia to join the seminary and the Academy in Moscow. After that he spent 19 years in the walls of St. Trinity Sergiy Lavra until 1988. And during the collapse of the USSR he returned to Ukraine. According to Metropolitan Onufri, Russian citizenship remained, but no one "interfered with".

"At this time, the Soviet Union broke up and I, being a de facto citizen of Russia (because it had a constant registration in Russia, and this meant a modern-citizenship), took the Ukrainian passport. Russian citizenship was automatically continued, but I He was not interested or used, then it did not have any significance, and no one was persecuted for it, "Onufri said.

After Russia occupied Crimea and part of the Donbass, as Onufri calls, "relations between countries began to deteriorate," he allegedly refused. "When these relationships began to deteriorate, especially in the last ten years, I have abandoned Russian citizenship. I have no Russian passport. Especially it was confirmed when I opposed Russia's war with Ukraine and condemned Russian aggression. I consider myself a citizen only of Ukraine" , - the Metropolitan assured.

Explaining why he could not part with the Russian passport for so long, the Metropolitan replied that "he wanted to complete life among people of God", these people, he said, lived in Moscow, in Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and Russian citizenship gave the opportunity to do it .

We will remind, on April 7, the UOC -MP sharply accused journalists of disseminating false information about the Russian citizenship of Metropolitan Onufri, and he assured that from birth a Ukrainian had never been to anyone else. It all began with the fact that Ukrainian Truth journalists were published on April 7, according to which the head of the UOC MP Onufri and another 20 priests found passports of the Russian Federation.