“UOC card is on the table in Washington” - Kirill Govorun

The defrocked former cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill Govorun, said that the topic of the Ukrainian religious conflict will be 100% the subject of future peace talks between the United States and Russia. That is why, according to Govorun, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not make any sudden moves, remaining in the status it has now. He spoke about this in an interview with the Faces of Independence project.

“They (the UOC — ed.) are in a state of waiting for negotiations and the end of the war. They think that their card will be on the table in negotiations with Russia — and it is there, it is one hundred percent — that it is also in Washington. And in Washington, they can really use this card to put pressure on Ukraine. And they hope that some kind of status quo will be restored for them after the negotiations are over. Therefore, it makes no sense for them to force the negotiations with Constantinople, since the more important negotiations for them are now taking place between Ukraine, Russia and Washington,” — Hovorun explained.

As a reminder, we recently published an analytical material on what the post-war future of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church might look like. The author of the publication pointed out that Russia, during peace negotiations, will definitely demand to ease pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which, in turn, will leave the UOC under the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church.