Checks on UOC’s ties with the Russian Orthodox Church were conducted by civil servants, not religious scholars — SSEFC official

Vyacheslav Horshkov, Head of the Department for Religious Affairs of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (SSEFC ), admitted that the so-called investigation into the ties between the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) was carried out not by scholars of religion but by regular state employees. He made this statement in a broadcast on Kharkiv’s “Ukrainian Radio,” reports Suspilne.

“We had a research group formed. This is not a religious expertise. It is called a study. The research group consists of employees of our service,” said Horshkov.

According to him, the study aimed to detect signs of affiliation with a banned religious organization, in line with the new “Law on the Protection of Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations.”

“The law sets out seven clear criteria. Among them is, for example, official presence within the structures of a banned religious organization,” the official explained.

He also stated that SSEFC independently determines whom to investigate:

“We are to check this or that religious organization… We plan the research at our own discretion, considering the hierarchical structure of the religious association. And the research group believes it makes sense to start not from the bottom, but from the top of the hierarchy.”

Earlier we reported that Vyacheslav Horshkov announced: once the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC is officially notified of signs of affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate, the Church will have 30 days to eliminate all ties with the ROC.