"They worship Maidan, Zelensky and the government": Robert Amsterdam criticizes the activities of the OCU

International lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who represents the interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, criticized the Ukrainian authorities. In a special interview with RTVI US, he said that the country is ruled by a «gang of thugs» and that the law banning the UOC violates international human rights standards.

«Ukraine is not a democracy. It is a state ruled by Mr. Zelensky and a gang of thugs operating under the abbreviation SBU,» the publication quotes Amsterdam as saying. In his opinion, the authorities «fabricated and lied» in an attempt to present the UOC as a threat to Ukraine’s national security.

The lawyer emphasized that the law that allows banning the activities of the UOC is «beyond morality and beyond the European Convention on Human Rights.» He also noted that although, according to him, the Americans were behind the severance of the Ukrainian Church from the Russian Church, they did not envision the creation of a state in Ukraine with one dominant Orthodox Church.

The lawyer called the OCU, created in 2018, a «state church» in which «they worship the Maidan, Zelensky and the government.» Amsterdam claims that the OCU uses force to seize churches, «often with the participation of people with swastikas on their hands,» and that these actions are carried out on the instructions of US State Department officials.

In conclusion, Robert Amsterdam recalled that U.S. Senator J.D. Vance opposed the Ukrainian law banning the UOC. The lawyer expressed the hope that the United States and the European Union, which have significant influence on Kyiv, «can intervene and simply ask Ukraine to restore democracy.»

Earlier it was reported that US President Donald Trump had no information about the persecution of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine before the meeting in Anchorage . According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russian delegation informed the American leader about this, which caused him surprise. Experts note that Trump’s lack of detail is nothing new and reflects the general superficial approach of the United States to the Ukrainian conflict.