“The key task is for at least 80% of the representatives of the UOC to transfer to the OCU,” - political scientist

The head of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Doctor of Historical Sciences Oleksiy Koshel, said that the main task of all anti-church initiatives directed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is to ensure that at least 80% of the clergy and believers of the UOC join the OCU. The political analyst believes that the Ukrainian government should have resolved this issue long ago, as it will be more difficult to do now. He said this in a commentary to the Espresso TV channel.

“Now they are trying to sell us the process (of banning the UOC — ed.). We will applaud the President, who finally initiated that his team should consider this issue in Parliament. But unfortunately, we have lost precious time, we have lost a year and a half, and during this year and a half, in fact, I am convinced that the vast majority of parishes of the UOC-MP could have already become a part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine painlessly, without any problems, the process could have already begun and be nearing completion. Because there was an emotional upsurge, people were holding meetings, people were voting, people wanted the transition, but there were no legal grounds for it. The government lost a precious year and a half of time. And our key task is to ensure that 80% of at least the representatives of the UOC-MP transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which can be a very painless process, by the way, but I am afraid that it will either be artificially slowed down again, and the process may drag on for years or even decades, or they will break the wood,” — Koshel said.

Earlier, former Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (2012-2018), Honored Lawyer of Ukraine Valeriya Lutkovska proposed to submit Draft Law No. 8371 for additional examination to the Venice Commission. The expert is convinced that an additional analysis of such a controversial draft law in international organizations will help preserve Ukraine’s reputation as a state governed by the rule of law.