Yelensky involved in abetting Georgian scandal
Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from People’s Front faction Viktor Yelensky. Photo: Politeka. net
On June 20, 2019, the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IPAO) terminated urgently its work in Tbilisi due to the attack on the Russian delegates. One of the defendants in the scandal was MP of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Viktor Yelensky from People’s Front faction, his assistant Dmitry Gorevoy told on Facebook.
The row ostensibly flared up after Sergei Gavrilov, a representative of the Communist Party of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, who was elected president of the IPAO, took the position of the speaker in the Parliament of Georgia, where the Assembly was held.
According to Gorevoy, some of the Georgian parliamentarians blocked the rostrum and Yelensky went out to a crowd of protesters.
“I came to talk about Orthodox solidarity but this is impossible because Russia, which considers itself a part of Orthodox culture, has occupied Orthodox Ukraine and Orthodox Georgia. We could not stop the aggressor, but we should not make concessions,” the Georgian TV channel Rustavi 2 conveyed the words of the Ukrainian Parliamentarian. “Nothing should happen without our participation. Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova must decide on their fate <...> we must strengthen cooperation with all countries whose territories have been invaded by Russia. We also should not allow the return of the Russian delegation to the Council of Europe.”
The attacked IPAO president accused Yelensky of inciting the protesters and insulting President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
The row in IPAO resulted in mass riots, during which 38 law enforcement officers and 16 protesters had suffered, while radical forces stormed the parliament building and demanded the resignation of the speaker, the head of the Interior Ministry and the State Security Service of Georgia.
Earlier, Yelensky declared that Russia had been allegedly trying to take away the Tomos for OCU. “In all the processes that are aimed to undermine the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Russian state is involved. Taking advantage of the transit period, taking advantage of the fact that one President is leaving and the other, his successor, has not been elected yet, the Russian state is trying to take the Tomos away from Ukraine,” he said.
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