Ministry of Culture intends to return to renaming UOC in the near future

First Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine Svetlana Fomenko. Photo: ukrinform.ru

In the near future, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine intends to intensify efforts to handle the issue of renaming the UOC, the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency cites the words of the First Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine Svetlana Fomenko.

“The process continues, but so far we have had no victory. I think that in the near future we will become more active in this matter,” Fomenko said.

However, she did not say what specific actions the Ministry of Culture intends to take.

We recall that in November 2019, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Vladimir Borodiansky said that he supported the law on the involuntary renaming of the UOC. “We understand that the centre of influence on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is located in Russia, in Moscow,” the head of the ministry said. “Of course, Ukraine must somehow take this into account. And I consider the principle that the Church should identify in its name that it refers to the Russian Orthodox Church is an understandable norm that simply determines who is who.” 

After this and a number of other statements, people's deputies talked about the possible resignation of Borodiansky. 

People’s deputy of Ukraine Vadim Novinsky also noted that Borodiansky repeats the theses of the previous government. “By voting for Vladimir Zelensky and his party, the people voted primarily for the restoration of civil peace, for ending the policy of dividing Ukrainians into the "right" and the "wrong", against persecution on the language or religious basis. Only a few months later, the Minister of Government of the “Servant of the People” spoke with the words of Petro Poroshenko,” the MP stressed.

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