Expert: UOC stuck in someone’s throat as it did not let hit the jackpot

Meeting of liberated captives at the Kiev airport in December 2017

The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which operates both on the territory of Ukraine and on the territory of the annexed Crimea, as well as on the territories of the Donbass that are not controlled by Ukraine, is the only link that connects these territories to a single system and does not yet allow Ukraine to completely collapse. Kost Bondarenko expressed this opinion in an interview with the "Apostrophe", commenting on the recent call of the site "Mirotvorets" ("Peacemaker" – Ed.) to the military of Ukraine: to shoot Orthodox priests, with a threat to life.

""Mirotvorets" acts on the principle that peace is war, and truth is lie and so on," said the politologist. "And "Mirotvorets" is like the Rwandan Radio "Land of a Thousand Hills", which actually provoked the Tutsi massacre in Rwanda in the 90s. In fact, the site "Mirotvorets" does the same, though according to its name it should, on the contrary, contribute to the restoration of peace in Ukraine."

Kost Bondarenko expressed dismay: why the unifying function of the UOC is not used for its intended purpose.

"Some people here, on the contrary, call for a radical resolution of the Church issue, which they dislike for some reason," said Bondarenko. "Sometimes I have thoughts whether such kind of "media" is playing in favor of the same Russia? Because in fact after such statements Putin and his entourage can applaud "Mirotvorets" because it does much more to quarrel two parts of Ukraine, citizens and believers of different faiths than all Russian mercenaries on the territory of the so-called LNR / DNR together."

The expert connected this situation with the role of the UOC in the exchange of prisoners of war.

"It is clear that it was the authority of Metropolitan Onufry in December that played the most important role in the exchange of captives. That is, we need to use this connection," Bondarenko emphasized. "And such statements can have grounds as there has been illicit business on the exchange of prisoners – and this is not a secret. A lot has been written about this. And when Metropolitan Onufry goes and releases hundreds of people from captivity for nothing and thus crosses somebody’s big business, then I think after that the Church immediately has big troubles. Right away appear radicals, who are trying to somehow undermine the authority of the Church or simply threaten to attack the Church. At the initiative of "Mirotvorets", a wave of anti-church actions is unleashed at once. I think that the Church stuck in someone’s throat as it did not let them hit the jackpot, which someone had to get. And those people who stand for "Mirotvorets" act on the principle " Some die at war, and some make profits of it", frankly speaking."

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