Popovich Denis Evzebievich

On 13 January 2025, Denis Popovich, a 27-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained in Moscow. He was taken to the Meshchansky District Department of Internal Affairs of Russia, where a protocol was drawn up against him on an administrative offense under the article on petty hooliganism. According to the police, the man behaved provocatively, waved his arms and used obscene language. On January 15, 2025, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow sentenced Popovich to 15 days of administrative arrest." During the trial, Popovich did not admit guilt and said that he was walking towards the Sretensky Monastery, where he serves as a clergyman. Suddenly, several people surrounded him and demanded that he show his documents. He had no documents with him and was ordered to proceed to the police station to establish his identity, to which he agreed, while not resisting. After serving his administrative arrest, Popovich was detained again. On January 29, 2025, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow again sent him under administrative arrest on a fabricated charge. After serving his second administrative arrest, Popovich was detained on February 12, 2025, on criminal charges—he was accused of illegal possession of explosives and attempted terrorism. On the same day, a friend of Popovich, also a clergyman, 28-year-old Nikita Ivankovich, was detained on a similar charge. After a search of his home, his phone and laptop were confiscated. During interrogation, the detainees allegedly confessed that since 2022 they had been sending money to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in 2024 they were recruited by the GUR to prepare an assassination attempt on Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Simferopol and Crimea. According to the FSB's version, the murder of the metropolitan was planned to be carried out during his stay in the Sretensky Monastery, where Popovich planned to bring a homemade explosive device. While preparing for the terrorist attack, the assistant to Metropolitan Tikhon, Denis Popovich, gained access to Tikhon's Telegram account, controlled the metropolitan's correspondence, and received information about his travels around Russia. The court sent Popovich and Ivankovich to the SIZO. Previously, denunciations accusing both young men of pro-Ukrainian views were published about them in the Telegram channel "Bishop Lucifer. In particular, in 2022, Popovich was called a 'sleeper Banderite in the ROC,' and Ivankovich was called his 'closest friend.'