Ukrainian political scientist criticizes government pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Vyacheslav Likhachev, head of the National Minority Rights Monitoring Group and member of the expert council of the Center for Civil Liberties, commented on the situation with the deprivation of citizenship of the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, and the violation of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a whole. The political scientist is convinced that such actions by the authorities are a politically motivated attempt to put pressure on the majority of Ukrainian society, which is represented by the UOC. He spoke about this in a comment to the publication ZMINA.

In his commentary, human rights activist Vyacheslav Likhachev noted that “millions, probably more than ten million Ukrainian citizens, have other citizenship.”

«Among them are mayors of large cities, and I am sure that among them are at least relatives of high-ranking officials of the presidential administration, and, as it turns out from time to time, the SBU as well. The deprivation of Onufriy’s citizenship is only the first, unexpected move for the opponent in this long game (which, however, the authorities seem to want to play out quickly). The legal basis for this already exists. It is a matter of political will — and now the state is demonstrating it,» — he explained.

However, from a political point of view, according to Likhachov, this is a deeply flawed strategy. But more importantly, from a human rights perspective, he says, it is a violation of international standards of freedom of conscience.

«I am extremely unhappy that the state authorities have taken the path, without exaggeration (I am responsible for every word I say), of restricting the rights of believers and persecuting them on religious grounds. It is sad that the authorities resort to selective justice based on political expediency and will drive a significant part of their own citizens out of the legal space on the basis of their religious beliefs. This is not news, but the deprivation of Comrade Onufriy’s Ukrainian citizenship will take this trend to a new level. This is unpleasant and threatens negative consequences,» — he believes.

We recently reported that four hierarchs of the OCU were found to have citizenship of Russia and the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic.” In addition, one of them even wrote a statement saying that he was ready to cooperate with the special services of organizations hostile to Ukraine.