Serhiy Kondrachuk

Serhiy Kondrachuk

Date of birth: 18.03.1986

Deputy of the Rivne Regional Council, former head of the Zdolbuniv District State Administration, former head of the Rivne Regional Council (December 2, 2020 – August 12, 2022, representing Poroshenko's party "European Solidarity")

Throughout his political and bureaucratic career, Serhiy Kondrachuk has established himself as a consistent supporter of the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Kondrachuk has been implicated in raider seizures of churches. While serving as head of the district state administration, the official personally broke down doors with a crowbar.

Moreover, the official publicly incited hatred and violated the equal rights of citizens on the basis of religion.

As head of the Rivne Regional Council, Kondrachuk initiated and promoted unlawful decisions restricting the rights and freedoms of citizens.

At least since January 2019, the official has been involved in organizing, publicly and administratively legitimizing illegal votes "in favor of transferring to the OCU," in defiance of the law, statutes, and the will of the religious communities of the UOC in Rivne Oblast, and in particular in Zdolbuniv district.

According to SPJ journalists, the official initiated the raider seizure of 7 UOC churches in the district and personally participated physically in the seizure of some of them.

On May 10, 2018, while serving as head of the Zdolbuniv District State Administration, Kondrachuk initiated repression against UOC believers and clergy.

The official approached the Security Service of Ukraine demanding that searches be conducted in churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The pretext was appeals to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople that UOC believers and clergy had signed, requesting that he not participate in the creation of an anti-canonical church structure.

Serhiy Kondrachuk also insisted on the necessity of having law enforcement officers present at Sunday services to prevent the collection of signatures.

The official explicitly wrote that he had taken an active part in the resubordination of the religious community of the village of Novosilky, Kyiv Oblast, from the UOC to the "Kyiv Patriarchate," as a "convinced KP supporter" and "trusted representative" since 2008.

Kondrachuk openly declares that he does not intend to be tolerant toward UOC communities and clergy, and will even openly discriminate against them as the head of the district state administration:

"I strongly ask representatives of the MP never again to approach me for help with anything. Moreover, in the future you will hardly be welcome guests at events organized by the DSA while I am its head."

On January 27, 2019, Kondrachuk published evidence proving his complicity in the falsification of documents concerning the UOC Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church in the village of Kopytkyvo.

The official effectively legitimized the fraudulent "transfer to the OCU" on his personal Facebook page and spread false and deliberately misleading information about the will of the church community.

Furthermore, in the same post, Kondrachuk attempted to legitimize the falsification of documents for the UOC Church of the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Urvenna.

On February 9, 2019, the rector of the UOC Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church, Archpriest Oleksandr Danyliuk, was unable to enter the church because someone had replaced all the locks on it.

To document the offense, the clergyman called the police, who arrived at the scene of the incident at the church, which is the property of the UOC religious community of the village of Kopytkyvo.

By evening, strangers began gathering at the sealed church. It subsequently became known that all of them had come to Kopytkyvo from other localities at the request of Serhiy Kondrachuk.

"What angered me most was that Mr. Kondrachuk arrived at the church with his own keys," Father Oleksandr said. "That means he was the one who changed the locks, just as he had organized an absentee village meeting for the transfer to the OCU."

The head of the DSA initially failed to enter the church — the clergyman's family stood in the doorway.

OCU supporters began a verbal altercation; shouting and accusations against the Church broke out. Those gathered began insulting the priest and inciting hatred.

Serhiy Kondrachuk personally and forcibly shoved the priest and his wife off the steps. After that, the head of the Zdolbuniv DSA opened the church, allowed everything belonging to the clergyman to be taken, entered the altar, and placed candles on the altar table.

On Sunday, February 10, the first service by OCU raiders was held in the seized church, which Serhiy Kondrachuk announced on his Facebook page.

On February 17, 2019, under Kondrachuk's leadership, a group of OCU raiders held an illegal meeting of the territorial community, at which it was resolved to transfer the UOC Intercession Church in the village of Buderazh to the OCU.

Representatives of the parish reported the official's involvement in the crime.

"In favor of the OCU" at the illegal gathering voted 88 people whose membership in the religious community has not been confirmed. UOC representatives conducted an alternative poll and collected signatures in the village, where at least 230 out of 350 eligible residents voted in favor of the UOC.

(Source: UOJ)

The church community itself confirmed its loyalty to the UOC on February 9, 2019.

(Source: UOJ)

The church community was compelled to appeal even to President Zelenskyy for help and protection against lawlessness.

The parishioners' accusations were borne out by subsequent events. Kondrachuk brought his affair to completion six months later, when he was no longer head of the Zdolbuniv district administration.

On October 26, 2019, at around 6:00 a.m., OCU supporters led by Kondrachuk seized the UOC Intercession Church in the village of Buderazh.

According to eyewitnesses, in the early morning while it was still dark, several cars carrying young men from neighboring localities pulled up to the church. The raiders broke down the metal doors and entered the religious building, which is an architectural monument and belongs to the UOC religious community.

Village residents called the police and representatives of the UOC Rivne Eparchy to the scene to establish all the circumstances of the incident.

That day, police ultimately forced the OCU raiders to vacate the premises of the UOC Intercession Church. The church was sealed pending a court ruling.

On February 24, 2019, parishioners of the UOC Holy Archangel Michael Church in the village of Bushcha were unable to enter their church.

On the church grounds, OCU supporters led by Serhiy Kondrachuk, the head of the district state administration, were waiting for them — he had allegedly come to the village to carry out an inventory of the church.

The believers were outraged and could not understand such actions by the official, who on his day off had traveled to a remote village to set people against one another.

"I have the right to enter the church and carry out an inventory of the sacred property and items in accordance with Article 29 of the law…," Kondrachuk declared emotionally.

He then addressed the police: "If the church is not opened and I am not granted this right, it will be a gross violation of the law."

When the UOC priest and parishioners asked which law he was referring to and who had granted him such a right, no coherent answer was forthcoming from the official.

To avoid a confrontation, the believers began to serve a moleben and akathist outside the church, while OCU supporters blocked the entrance to the church.

Later, to prevent a seizure, the church was sealed by the village council chairman and UOC Archpriest Oleksandr Stetsyuk.

On March 2, 2019, a group of activists among OCU supporters attempted to seize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Nova Moshchanytsia.

Serhiy Kondrachuk — head of the Zdolbuniv District State Administration, whose name is linked to a whole series of raider seizures of UOC churches in Zdolbuniv district — was also present at the scene.

The perpetrators burst into the Nativity of the Theotokos Church after the service had ended, waiting until the worshippers had left the church building. The OCU raiders demanded that the keys to the church be handed over to them.

On July 18, 2020, former district state administration head Serhiy Kondrachuk demanded that journalist Valentyna Illina — wife of a UOC priest — be denied employment, after she had been invited to the post of editor-in-chief of the local newspaper "Nove Zhyttia."

The journalist told SPJ that she had been offered the position of leading the publication and raising its profile. During discussions about her employment, Illina reminded the employer — who was sympathetic to the OCU — that she was a UOC parishioner. The newspaper's management assured the journalist that her religious affiliation was of no consequence, as they needed a professional.

According to Illina, even before her official hire she had prepared the first issue of the newspaper. However, former district state administration head Kondrachuk, upon learning of this, approached the owner of the publication — Zdolbuniv district council head Oleh Datsyuk — with a request to "correct the misunderstanding" and not appoint as editor-in-chief "a person with 'Russian world' views."

On February 28, 2021, OCU Archbishop Ilarion Protsyk awarded law enforcement officers and Rivne Regional Council Chairman Serhiy Kondrachuk "for services to the Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

In particular, Rivne Regional Council Chairman Serhiy Kondrachuk received the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr the Great, 3rd degree.

All individuals decorated by the OCU had been direct participants and even initiators of a number of church conflicts in Rivne Oblast.

Under a post by UOC Rivne Eparchy clergyman Archpriest Vasyl Nachev — in which the clergyman recalled how Kondrachuk had personally pried open the doors of UOC churches with a crowbar — the regional council chairman left a comment combining an admission of bias with a threat:

"Father Vasyl, thank you for the congratulations!" — Kondrachuk wrote on the UOC priest's Facebook page. — "This award is an incentive for me to continue promoting the strengthening of the OCU in Rivne Oblast. See you soon!"

On May 20, 2022, at a regular session of the Rivne Regional Council, deputies did not support the draft resolution on banning the UOC that Kondrachuk had been attempting to push through.

As reported by the Rivne Eparchy press service, the persecutor-official has no intention of backing down from his goal and plans to appeal to the Verkhovna Rada.

(Source: UOJ)

"This decision is the most important of my life," Kondrachuk told the publication "Rivne Vechirnie."

In his interview with "Rivne Vechirnie," Kondrachuk also incites hatred against the UOC.

(Source: Rivne Vechirnie)

On May 28, 2022, Kondrachuk, in comments on the Facebook page of OCU "bishop" Yevstratiy Zorya, declared that he would liquidate the UOC in Rivne Oblast.

Kondrachuk provided a link to the draft resolution on banning the UOC, published on the Rivne Regional Council website on May 4, 2022.

"We will liquidate it, at least in Rivne Oblast, by a session resolution, MPinU," Kondrachuk wrote.

"The MPinU does not exist in the documents! How can you liquidate something that does not exist?" replied user Serhiy Kunytsky.

"I know, don't worry. We will liquidate what does exist in the documents," Kondrachuk added.

(Source: UOJ)

In July 2022, believers of the UOC Rivne Eparchy filed a statement with the police against Rivne Regional Council Chairman Serhiy Kondrachuk.

In the statement, the believers indicate that churches are being taken from them with Kondrachuk's personal participation. The parishioners of Rivne churches also informed law enforcement authorities that the official had violated the equal rights of citizens and abused his official position.

"I have consistently maintained, probably since 2008, that in Ukraine in general and in Rivne Oblast in particular there should be nothing Russian — no Russian books, no Russian music, no Russian church. This is my consistent life position. I view this as us being on the right path; we have an enemy, it is the last stronghold," commented the regional council chairman on the believers' complaints.

The official's comment is a self-incriminating disclosure.

On July 29, 2022, Serhiy Kondrachuk gave an interview to the television channel "Rivne 1" regarding 26 signatures from fellow deputies calling for his removal from office.

When asked whether the official sees any possibility of resolving his conflict with the UOC through unification with the OCU, he replied:

"I am not prepared to unite with the fetid, shaggy, orthodox Church Slavonic monasticism." In addition, the official accused Orthodox priests of "working for the FSB."

Kondrachuk clarified that his war against the Church did not begin recently but has spanned "his entire conscious life," and that he will continue this war going forward.

On August 12, 2022, the official was prematurely removed from the post of regional council chairman as a result of a deputies' vote.

However, he left behind a certain legacy, adopted on the same day as a result of his persistent efforts.

At the same session, regional council deputies considered two appeals concerning the activities of the UOC: one prepared by deputies of five factions and one prepared by Kondrachuk. The first, collective version — also hostile to the UOC — was adopted. Kondrachuk's draft was rejected.

Before the vote, the official noted that a significant portion of the text of the factions' appeal was the text of his draft resolution, from which "the mechanism" of banning the activities of the "Moscow Patriarchate" had been removed (the requirement that the Rivne Oblast Military Administration revoke the procedural order for the statutes and state registration of UOC religious communities in the oblast). As a result, the draft had become "declaratory," in Kondrachuk's view.

(Source: "Dzerkalo Tyzhnia")

On April 10, 2023, the session of the Rivne Regional Council adopted an unlawful resolution on the "Ban on the Activities of the UOC MP" in Rivne Oblast.

In Rivne itself, deputies terminated the right of use of land plots on the territory of the community that are used by the UOC.

During the debates, following the address by the ruling hierarch of the UOC Rivne Eparchy, Archbishop Pimen, the floor was taken by Kondrachuk, who

bearing all the hallmarks of discrimination and incitement to hatred:

"The so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church, known in society as the UOC MP, is a collaborationist organization hostile to Ukraine. I want to ask my colleagues who allowed the previous speaker to come here and address us: when you pressed 'give the floor,' what were you guided by? If we were condemning, say, 'Wagner' fighters, would we want Prigozhin to stand at this podium and say they are not terrorists? Why did you let them in here, and why are you giving the floor to listen to this heresy?"