“The Cabinet of Ministers and the DESS are to blame”: MP Klymenko explained why the UOC has not yet been banned

Yulia Klymenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the Voice party, shared her thoughts on why the state has not yet banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In her opinion, the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience are to blame for the delay in banning the UOC. Klymenko spoke about this in an interview with the publication Glavkom.

«There are two major problems. The first is the delay in the adoption of subordinate legislation by the Cabinet of Ministers. I am convinced that this was deliberate sabotage on the part of certain officials who are very fond of the Russian Church. The second is the work of the State Service for Ethnic Policy, whose competence raises many questions. Most of the functions of bringing order to this sphere are entrusted to it. However, the staffing, qualifications, and salaries of the service’s employees do not correspond to the level of the tasks set,» — Klymenko noted.

In addition, the deputy claims that due to Russia’s interest in restoring the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the state should, on the contrary, act more harshly to prevent such a scenario.

«We have no room for error here, as this issue is being raised by the Russians in negotiations to end the war. The return of the Russian Orthodox Church to Ukraine will mean the de facto return of all Russian agents, who will undermine our country from within. Since they understand that they are physically unable to occupy and hold Ukraine, they are using religion and language for their “FSB” purposes. To prevent this, the State Service needs highly experienced lawyers who are well versed in international law. I helped increase the service’s budget, but we see that the level of implementation of the law remains low. Let’s be honest: there are employees within the service itself who deliberately block the implementation of the law, receiving money for their inaction. And I am not talking about the head or managers, but about employees who have to issue orders every day, go to court, and so on,» — the deputy notes.

We will remind you that recently the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church published a statement by the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, in which the First Hierarch criticized the activities of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience aimed at banning the UOC. The statement asserts that the State Service has not officially informed the Church of the results of its investigation into its affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate, without providing any documents on the work carried out. In this regard, the UOC categorically disagrees with the statements of the State Service and is suing the State Service.