The head of a Ukrainian radical organization said it was necessary for activists to participate in the seizure of UOC property

The head of the radical nationalist organization Brotherhood, Dmitry Korchinsky, said that the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not lead to serious changes, so it is necessary to involve “active public” in the seizure of church property. Korchinsky admitted that the organization he heads has repeatedly participated in the seizure of UOC churches, and therefore the radicals have experience in this area, which they can share if necessary. Korchinsky said this in an interview with Telegraf.

“The law will not change anything significantly. It is not even the SBU and law enforcement agencies that should work here, but the public. We often take part in the transfer of churches to the OCU, so we have methods. These processes work if there is a sufficient number of active citizens. It is much more effective to deal with the land. The UOC FSB has been given a huge amount of land for free use: for construction, for their stalls, for anything. Just an incredible amount. This was done mainly by local authorities, and we just need to take it all away from them. Local communities have the right to take back their land, especially since it is being used poorly. Take the land! Did you build a chicken coop there? Well, it’s your chicken coop, take it somewhere else, because the land belongs to Kyiv, for example,” — Korchynskyi said.

The radical added that he does not believe that the UOC will go underground. He called the Church “Moscow’s business of funeral services” and said that it must be fought by any means necessary and without regard to Ukraine’s Western partners.

“The vast majority of these pseudo-priests want money. Praying in garages means spending money, not earning money on the faithful. They make money on the faithful because they have places for these believers to come to, and there they sell their ritual services. What is the UOC FSB? It is a company that provides funeral services. It’s not really a church. But since we are fighting any Moscow business here, we need to fight the Moscow business of providing funeral services. When they do not have the opportunity to provide funeral services on a large scale and enrich themselves on this, all this will die very quickly. Of course, they will throw money at it from Moscow. Now, as I understand it, some kind of Orthodox political project is being prepared for the next elections. They will exploit this topic if they are not pressed in time. But with the activity of Ukrainians, all this can be overcome. I urge Ukrainians to be active. There are things that the state is very embarrassed to do. Now, any attack on the UOC by the FSB is perceived very badly in the US Congress. They perceive it as an attack on the church, because they do not understand and will never understand that this is not really a church. And when the public does it, what are the questions?” — Korchinsky added.

We will remind, on July 21, 2024, during the Atlas Weekend music festival held in Kyiv, the frontman of the Odesa band “Hatespeech” Dmitry Odnorozhenko in an obscene manner called for physical violence against the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Odnorozhenko said that the only way to resolve the issue with the UOC was to “take things into our own hands.”