Dmytro Dmytrovych Sydor is a Rusyn

Rusyns

Carpatho-Rusyns are a primarily diasporic ethnic group who speak an Eastern Slavic language, or Ukrainian dialect, known as Rusyn. Carpatho-Rusyns descend from a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the use of the ethnonym "Ukrainian" in the early twentieth century...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an autonomous Church of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine, under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate...

 (mitrophoric protoiereus

Protoiereus

A protoiereus or protopriest in the Eastern Orthodox Church is a priest usually coordinating the activity of other subordinate priests in a bigger church. The title is roughly equivalent with the title of protopope or archpriest....

 of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross Erection, Mukachevo eparchy

Eparchy

Eparchy is an anglicized Greek word , authentically Latinized as eparchia and loosely translating as 'rule over something,' like province, prefecture, or territory, to have the jurisdiction over, it has specific meanings both in politics, history and in the hierarchy of the Eastern Christian...

 of the UOC(MP) ) and a politician in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, the chairman of the Soym of Subcarpathian Rusyns (Congress of Carpathian Ruthenians, Сойм підкарпатських русинів), an association of Rusyn organizations of Zakarpattia Oblast

Zakarpattia Oblast

The Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative oblast located in southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Uzhhorod...

, an instrumental in the movement for the creation of the Subcarpathian Ruthenia (Подкарпатська Русь) autonomy.

In 2008 he was accused of separatist activities and questioned by the Ukrainian State security as part of the criminal investigations of the "threat to state integrity". Sydor denied the accusation saying that he speaks for the autonomy within Ukraine, rather than for a separate state. Ukrainian media claims that the movement is subsidized from Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.