Nikolai Mitrokhin: Stripping Metropolitan Onufriy of Citizenship Is a Response to Failed Force Scenario in Chernivtsi

The revocation of Ukrainian citizenship from the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onufriy, as well as the head of the Chernivtsi diocese, Metropolitan Meletiy, is, according to expert Nikolai Mitrokhin, a direct reaction by the authorities to the failed attempt to seize the UOC cathedral in Chernivtsi by force. This cathedral, from which Metropolitan Onufriy preached for over twenty years, was considered his spiritual base. The attempted seizure ended in failure and large-scale resistance by UOC believers. The publicist wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

“The fact that he holds Russian citizenship has been known for more than two years. During this time, Zelensky has stripped a whole group of UOC metropolitans of citizenship on similar grounds… All of them have remained in Ukraine, serve, and continue to lead their dioceses,” Mitrokhin noted.

He emphasized that a similar situation applies to other figures in Ukrainian society: “There are still thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people from the Ukrainian elite (including some hierarchs of the OCU) with similar passports.”

The expert recalled the events of June 17 in Chernivtsi, after which thousands of believers stood up to defend the church: “Several thousand UOC believers freed the cathedral, clearly demonstrating the real balance of power in Orthodox Bukovina.”

The next day, according to Mitrokhin, President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded the OCU priest who led the attack. Mitrokhin called him “a serial organizer of such seizures,” noting that the use of force did not work in Chernivtsi — unlike in a number of rural parishes.

«Now Onufriy, as well as the head of the Chernivtsi diocese Metropolitan Meletiy (Egorenko) — are deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. Which means that they can be arrested at any moment and either expelled to any country of their choice or exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians» he said.

In conclusion, Mitrokhin emphasized that such actions by the authorities are counterproductive: “The ‘national church’ under Turkish leadership in Ukraine is not taking shape. Both direct violence and selective justice via presidential and NSDC decrees produce results opposite to what is intended.”

Earlier, we reported that in one of his evening addresses, President Zelensky effectively admitted that the state’s actions against His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine are part of a deliberate policy toward those the government considers “linked to Russia.”