Lomachenko glorified Russian special forces and defended Moscow priests: why boxer was suspected of working for Russian special services in Ukraine

The bout between former world champion Vasyl Lomachenko and four lightweight belt holder Devin Haynie was refused to be shown in Ukraine, where a large percentage of boxing fans on the night of May 21 were cheering against the fighter from Odessa region. The Akkermanian has so discredited himself with his love for the Moscow Patriarchate and his Instagram slurs that he is considered his own in Russia at a time when Russia is waging a bloody war on his soil.

Lomachenko started getting into scandals on a regular basis even before the full-scale invasion began. But many Ukrainians were ready to forgive him everything after Vasiliy joined the TRO of Belgorod-Dnistrovskiy. They say, he had an epiphany and came to his senses, who is not mistaken? However, the boxer stubbornly refused to call Russia an aggressor, when thousands were killed under fire, and then stood up for the Moscow Patriarchate.

After Lomachenko's big title fight in the United States, which ended in a controversial loss to the Akkerman on points, OBOZREVATEL recalled the boxer's scandalous actions and posts that have stirred Ukraine in recent years.

1."POLITE PEOPLE". The first of the shtick in recent years dates back to January 2020. Then, shortly after Christmas, Lomachenko posted a scandalous video, for which he was criticized by Ukrainians. On his Instagram page, he shared a video about "the power of the Orthodox spirit" from the Russian Orthodox Church's Korsun Hermitage monastery.

But most of all, people were outraged by the presence of Russian special forces in the video, who first go to church to pray and place candles, and then take weapons and go "to work. At the end of the video, the author thanked the "polite men," which is the nickname given to the unmarked Russian soldiers who took part in the 2014 annexation of Crimea, for their help in filming the video.

"You're such an asshole, Vasily. And try to say that you are out of politics. And I cheered for you in every battle. You're dead to me, traitor," wrote the followers on the boxer's page.

2. CROSSES IN OIL. After the start of the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine in Ukraine in March 2020, Basil surprised everyone when he urged the Orthodox to make crosses on doors with olive oil on Instagram.

"The Holy Fathers of Mount Athos are urging all Orthodox Christians today to make a cross on the back of their homes' doors. If you don't have a cross, you can make one with your finger by dipping it in olive oil," Boxer wrote.

The athlete later apologized for not checking the information, which turned out to be fake, and deleted the strange post.

3. ONE NATION. In the spring of 2020 a new scandal broke out over the filming of Lomachenko and Usik in a Russian film about the church, "Hello Brother, Christ is Risen!"

In the movie Vasily stressed that for him since childhood Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are one and the same concept: "I had no idea that these are other people or another country, a border of some kind. I kept thinking that we are one people. We are all Orthodox Christians."

The boxer also stressed that despite the war in Donbass and the occupation of Crimea, he cannot break ties with Russia: "I have a lot of friends in Russia, I have relatives in Russia. I have rivals from Russia. I can't just stop communicating with them because I was told that this is a country that is at war with our country."

4. CHURCH SHOWDOWN. And before the fight with Teofimo Lopez in October, 2020 in Los Angeles Vasiliy had a conflict in the church with another Ukrainian boxer Ivan Redkach, who once fought together with Loma for the national team. But last year, because of Ivan's jokes, they began to have altercations in social networks. It went as far as a showdown in church.

On his Instagram page, Redkach said that they accidentally met Vasily in one of the Orthodox churches in the United States. According to Ivan, Lomachenko reacted rudely to his compatriot's greeting, pushed him away with both hands in the presence of his wife and son and asked him to stay to continue the showdown later.

5. WHERE IS THE FLAG? In June 2021, Lomachenko was criticized for not having the Ukrainian flag after his victory over Japanese Masayoshi Nakatani. Apparently, the boxer was offended because of the criticism of his posts in social networks, so the flag was absent neither in the ring, nor at the press-conference after the fight. Although in 2014 Vasiliy promised to "always come out with the Ukrainian flag".

And under the subsequent postings of the representative of the Odessa region in Instagram even slipped the question: "What country do you represent?" Instead of the blue-and-yellow one in his residence in the United States, Loma planted the red-and-yellow flag of his native Belgorod-Dnistrovskiy. Then some foreign fans even thought that Vasiliy hoisted the flag of Spain, and began to write to him in Spanish.

Lomachenko found himself in another unpleasant situation after his victory over the Ghanaian Richard Commie. The former world champion did not bring the flag of Ukraine into the ring, but limited himself to the flag of Ackerman, which he unfolded after the successful fight. The city in Odessa region, called Belgorod-Dnistrovskiy since the twentieth century, is the native city for the 34-year-old Ukrainian.

In the comments, users wondered why Vasily took not the flag of Ukraine: "What is that rag on his shoulders? The new flag of Ukraine." People were outraged at how it was possible to understand that Lomachenko represents our country.

6. WITHOUT RUSSIA. After being in TKO Belgorod-Dnistrovsky many expected from Lomachenko an active pro-Ukrainian position also during the preparation to the fight with Jemaine Ortiz, which took place in October 2022. Vasiliy was preparing in the United States of America and had no problem communicating with all the top media in the world.

However, the boxer was mostly silent during the camp and only gave a big interview 10 days before the fight to journalists of his promoter company Top Rank. Naturally, there was also talk about the invasion of Ukraine, but after 8 months of ruthless shelling and bloody crimes by Russia, Loma never once blamed Russia for the attack, although he considered "what happened to be very horrible".

Further comments by Vasily were just as vague when it came to the aggressor, as if the Ukrainians were fighting some unknown enemy. Which angered the Ukrainians. Also, Lomachenko expressed confidence that many Russians do not support the war against Ukraine. And the boxer sees no point in appealing to the dictator Vladimir Putin, as it will not change the situation.

You couldn't help but notice that Lomachenko didn't say a word about the war in Ukraine when commenting on his win over Ortiz. And unbeaten Ukrainian welterweight boxer Taras Shelestyuk noted that Vasyl doesn't have his own strong stance on the war with Russia. And, according to the athlete, after the connection with the Moscow pops, it is not surprising.

"The man has over two million subscribers. I think a third of them there are from the Russian Federation. He recently said, 'Why should I say something, it will not stop the war anyway. After "pens," "doves of peace," and all that stuff about Moscow priests who probably zombified him, that's fine. My opinion is that he doesn't have his own strong position or sees it very differently," Shelestyuk said.

7. EXCHANGE LIKE MEDVEDCHUK. And in winter, Lomachenko finally turned his compatriots against him because of his support of the Moscow priests, who blessed the Russian military to kill Ukrainians. First, the boxer showed how he baked prosphora in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, which was rented by the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Vasily then published a photo with Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol (aka Andrey Kovalenko), against whom sanctions were imposed by the NSBO, supporting the UOC MP bishop. And Luka regularly traveled to Moscow and the occupied territories of Donbass.

And on December 31, 2022, instead of New Year's greetings, Lomachenko published an appeal by a bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, where Metropolitan Longin (secular Michael Zhar) accuses our state of starting a war against God and the church.

The chief of staff of the Azov regiment Bohdan Tavr Krotevich after publications with sermons of the UOC bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate even offered to exchange the former champion for Ukrainian prisoners of war: "Vasya Lomachenko is a future 'Medvedchuk', for which many of our guys can be released from captivity."

In turn, Ukrainian activist and soldier of the AFU Yevgeny Karas suggested that Vasyl could be recruited by the Russian special services. This explains the boxer's pathological love for the "Russian world".

8. DEMONIZED UKRAINIANS. And in February, Lomachenko began a series of posts about the persecution of the Moscow Patriarchate by the Ukrainian authorities amid talk of evicting its representatives from Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The 34-year-old native of Belgorod-Dnistrovskiy posted propaganda videos on his Instagram account, garnering many comments from Russians and anger from Ukrainians. As a result, his page in his native country was inaccessible.

In one of his posts, Deacon Andrei Palchuk of the UOC MP diocese in Odessa urged everyone to vote for the petition on the Verkhovna Rada website "Not to ban the UOC MP. Loma also posted a video from the Youtube channel of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists" (SPJ), which is considered something like the TV channel "Russia", only for the church theme.

The propaganda piece talked about the persecution of the UOC MP by the Ukrainian authorities. And the president, Vladimir Zelenski, was accused of hypocrisy and was believed to be persecuting congregants. Then in the spring, the 35-year-old boxer posted a video of the Ukrainian SPM that covered the situation with the protests near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and showed some Ukrainians as "spiritually sick people.

The video gave the words of Metropolitan Epiphanius that worshippers of the "Russian world" were trying to defend "the ideology that brought suffering, the trials of war to our home," and immediately afterwards showed unflattering footage of opponents of the Moscow Patriarchate. Some citizens, gathered under the monastery on Pechersk, cringed.

"Can we call these people those who are waging a spiritual struggle? Obviously not. Those who now picket the Lavra are spiritually sick people. They can only be pitied," the authors of the video pathologically declared.

It got to the point that Lomachenko used a photo with Nazis to show what Ukraine is going to, kicking the MPs out of the Lavra. The boxer posted a propaganda video that shows what it was like in the days of "militant atheism." For this purpose, the creators of the video inserted footage of the destroyed temples of the Ukrainian capital during World War II.

At the beginning of April, the famous boxer posted a video with a verse in support of the UOC MP. The text, which belongs to one Olga Pravoslavnaya, calls Ukrainians who oppose the UOC MP "demoniacs" and compares them to "Judas.

9. WAR AND GOD. Already on the eve of the fight for the title of the absolute world champion in the lightweight division with Devin Haynie during the media day, Lomachenko did not say for which country he was going to fight. When listing the main symbols of his life, Lomachenko put Ukraine on the fourth place, but he never mentioned its name.

"This is my goal, my dream, I can't wait. It's all for God, for my father, my family. And of course, it's for my country. Less talk. Just wait until Saturday night, May 20. I'm healthy and ready. That's all," Lomachenko said.

Also, the 35-year-old native of Belgorod-Dnistrovskiy said that it is pointless to do anything to stop the war in Ukraine, because it won't change anything anyway: "If you say or do anything, it won't change anything. I think only God can change anything. So we just need to pray and ask him to stop this war."

Naturally, such words did not add to Vasiliy's fans in Ukraine. This time after the fight, the boxer carried a blue-and-yellow flag into the ring, but after Loma's very controversial loss on points, many noted that it was God who punished the Ackerman who turned away from his country and favored the aggressor.

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