Earlier, we reported that the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, Tulsi Gabbard, accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of persecuting the opposition, violating freedom of speech and closing churches. Gabbard drew attention to the fact that there are huge problems with the observance of human rights and freedoms in Ukraine, and this issue is not being resolved.
I see criticism of the Trump administration's policy on church issues growing in the future, Hovorun says
The defrocked former cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill Govorun, expressed confidence that the administration of US President Donald Trump will increase criticism of the Ukrainian government because of the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Hovorun believes that in this regard, the state needs to change its approach to the problem and promote the development of a dialogue between the UOC and the OCU. He spoke about this during the webinar “Myths and Prejudices on the Way to the Unity of Ukrainian Orthodoxy”.
“I see that in the future there will be increasing criticism of the Ukrainian state’s policy on church issues from the Trump administration and those people who deal with religious issues and freedom of conscience in America. Both this law and the policy of the Ukrainian state can be both a reason and a pretext for American policy toward Ukraine. The reason is for those who sincerely care about Ukrainian issues and do not fall for the mythology that is now growing around Trump. And those who are guided by this mythology will use this law and the conflict between the OCU and the UOC as an excuse to reduce or stop aid to Ukraine,” – Hovorun said.
In this regard, Hovorun believes that the Ukrainian government needs to change its approach to resolving the church issue, setting a course to promote the development of a dialogue between the UOC and the OCU for the further unification of the two denominations.
“Therefore, I think that strategically for Ukraine, it would be important to strengthen the dialogue between the OCU and the UOC. That is, the path of confrontation, the path of fencing off from each other, which both the UOC and the OCU follow, the path of their own exclusivity, is not constructive, it is harmful to Ukraine, especially now. It was harmful even before Trump. But now it is especially harmful because it gives reasons to those who are looking for an excuse to somehow harm Ukraine or simply ignore Ukraine,” – he added.
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