Ukrainian journalist calls for no delay in banning UOC

Ukrainian journalist Andriy Shchekun urged the government not to delay the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He considers this issue to be fundamental, as “the existence of the UOC jeopardizes the national security of Ukraine.” He said this during a conference on “Religious policy of the Russian Federation as a weapon of hybrid warfare: directions of implementation and mechanisms of counteraction,” according to “Holos Kryma”.

The event was reportedly held at the premises of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The organizers were: The Office of the Prosecutor General, the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, the Department of Religious Studies of the Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Research Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide, the Crimean Center for Business and Cultural Cooperation “Ukrainian House”, the Institute for Development and Democracy “PolitA”.

“The Russian Orthodox Church, through its UOC (MP) structure, continues to be a propaganda agent promoting the ideology of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, pursuing a targeted systemic policy aimed at leveling the image of the OCU and confrontation between Orthodox Christians both in Ukraine and abroad. With the delay in the liquidation of the UOC-MP in Ukraine, there are more and more risks and threats to the national security of our state,” – said Andriy Shchekun, coordinator of the Humanitarian Policy group of the Crimean Platform expert network.

Earlier, the defrocked former cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill Govorun criticized the anti-church law No. 3894 adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, aimed at banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He is convinced that by adopting such laws, the state is actually turning the UOC into a “tool of Moscow’s propaganda,” and Western partners sensitive to civil liberties are using this situation as an excuse to refuse to help Ukraine.