"An auditor has come to us": first conclusions on Robert Amsterdam's visit to Ukraine

Two days have passed since the head of the international human rights company Amsterdam & Partners LLP, Robert Amsterdam, who represents the legal interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, crossed the Ukrainian border. According to information from various sources, during these two days the lawyer held several meetings, the most important of which were: with the Primate of the UOC, with Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy, and with the head of the SSRF Victor Yelensky. It is not clear to the end whether Amsterdam saw the deputies, but even on the above mentioned ones we can already draw intermediate conclusions.

First of all, it should be noted that Amsterdam is not an ordinary lawyer. In the «piggy bank» of the lawyer of the UOC — serious image successes in international courts. Amsterdam has sued the governments of several countries, the UN, top politicians and many other significant figures in the world. His activities have made him banned from entering Russia and, at the same time, respected in human rights and political circles in the United States and Great Britain.

The high level of Amsterdam’s qualifications is realized in the religious-analytical sphere of Ukraine. OCU lobbyists in the media have already managed to launch an information campaign against Amsterdam, saying that he «does not know the subject» and «contradicts himself». Lana Samokhvalova, a journalist of the OCU, became hysterical when she published an article on Glavkom in the style of «while the guys are dying on the frontlines, the UOC MP is striving for revenge». Playing on feelings and manipulating topics that are «painful» for society is a favorite tactic of the OCU propagandists, nevertheless, we must understand what exactly is the reason for such a «stir».

The SSRF and the OCU realize that their attempts to tell the Western community about the «unprecedented freedom» of worship in Ukraine are shattered by the harsh reality of the persecution of the UOC. The repression against the Church has reached such a scale that their justifications and arguments look simply unconvincing. Moreover, now it will be impossible to hide the aggression against the 8 million Ukrainian citizens/believers of the UOC, because Amsterdam is clearly using the information gathered in Ukraine for political purposes as well.

According to available information, Robert Amsterdam is close to the Trump team. In this regard, there is an understanding that the facts about the persecution of the UOC will become another argument in the policy of the Republican Party towards the Ukrainian government. In addition, functionaries in the UK have a mixed reaction to the situation with the pressure on the UOC. The condemnation by representatives of the Anglican Church of the persecution of the UOC is a serious call to the SSRA, the OCU and all those involved.

Nevertheless, it appears that the Ukrainian government does not intend to surrender without a fight. Strangely, after Amsterdam’s visit to the SSRF, there was no press release, photo or even written note on the organization’s website that such an event had taken place. This likely indicates that the results of the meeting were not satisfactory to Jelensky. It is possible that the searches of Metropolitan Theodosius, who had met with Amsterdam the day before, were a demonstration of disagreement with the position of the UOC lawyer. The unwillingness to dialog was also manifested in the fact that, according to Amsterdam, the Ukrainian media were forbidden to interview him, in which he could have given detailed answers to questions. Today’s story by Channel 5 is a one-time action, the purpose of which is to compromise the lawyer in the eyes of the public, saying he is «pro-Russian», «shallow», «defends the Russian Orthodox Church».

To summarize, we note that Robert Amsterdam made his move to meet the Ukrainian government in order to understand the motives behind their actions with regard to the UOC. In turn, Ukraine did not appreciate such interest of the lawyer, and by searching the UOC hierarch’s house virtually «under the nose» of the Western guest, they demonstrated their disregard for his work. Well, Amsterdam will soon leave Ukraine. He will have to analyze the layer of information he has collected. Nevertheless, the next step is up to him. We think that personal sanctions against some Yelensky will very quickly bring those interested in repression against the UOC to their senses, and will confirm the effectiveness of the UOC’s lawyer to the whole world.