MP Poturaev accused the UN of being “pro-Russian” for criticizing the law banning the UOC

Ukrainian MP and chairman of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Nikita Poturaev accused the UN of being “pro-Russian” because of the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which criticizes the scandalous anti-church law No. 3894, aimed at banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The deputy claims that the UN did not understand the details of the law, and the pro-Russian lobby in the organization wants to discredit Ukraine in this way. He said this in an interview with Glavkom.

“For me, this is an absolutely expected statement, because it cannot be called a conclusion. You can only talk about a conclusion when you study and research something, and this is just a political pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian statement. Obviously, it was made with the participation of Russian lobbyists, who are as plentiful as crucians in a pond at the UN. We did not learn anything new about this organization. It was clear that the Russians were running around lobbying to make sure that everything sounded like this. But we did not know when this statement would be made. Of course, our representatives at the UN opposed this as much as they could. But given everything that is happening in this organization, we also have our limits there. The UN, unfortunately, is full of agents of Russian influence, so we should not expect miracles from our diplomats,” — Poturaev said.

When asked who exactly is a pro-Russian lobbyist at the UN, Poturaiev did not answer. In addition, according to the deputy, if the UN cooperated even with Hamas, then their statements regarding the ban on the UOC should not be taken into account.

“As far as I know, a conglomerate was operating there. It’s hard to say where the Kremlin ends and where the Kremlin’s cronies begin. But, in principle, we understand how to oppose if they try to use this against us. Our position has not changed: it is the same as it was when the law was promoted and voted for, etc. […] The UN has done a lot of things like this — it has supported Hamas, too. So we just have to take it calmly. All these movements will not change our position or the position of our closest friends from the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, who understand all the dangers that come from this so-called church. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights often draws exclusively political conclusions — they condemned the same Israeli operation against the non-humans of Hamas. So we know how this office works. In 2022-2023, they already tried to push through the UN statements that prisoners were being held in inhumane conditions in Ukraine. But all these ideas fell apart, because we have something to show in response — where and how prisoners are held, how they are fed, what kind of medical care they receive… All of this was stopped at an early stage by the efforts of our UN office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Not everything has to be dragged to the media, and not all struggles are public. And here they picked on the law, and without understanding it, they pushed this notorious statement when the law had not even started working,” — the MP added.