Borodiansky asks candidates for the post of "chief for religion" about OCU

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Vladimir Borodiansky. Photo: press service of the Cabinet of Ministers

On January 25, 2020, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Vladimir Borodiansky held a final interview with applicants for the post of head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience. At the interview, Borodiansky asked about the attitude of candidates to state support for the OCU and their readiness to lobby for the “anti-church” bill, reports “Strana”, citing its own sources.

It is noted that the minister, in particular, was interested in how the candidates intend to promote the introduction of alternate services in the churches which now belong to the communities of the UOC.

As the online outlet reports, Borodiansky asked about his readiness to lobby for the adoption of the controversial bill No. 0931, which many see as a tool to limit freedom of conscience and freedom of speech in Ukraine.

We recall that four candidates entered the final stage of the competition for the post of head of the State Service for Religion: Andrei Yurash, Yuri Reshetnikov, Elena Bogdan and Sergey Bortnik. The expert community believes that the prerogative candidate for this post for the Ministry of Culture is precisely Yurash, one of the main lobbyists for the OCU, despite the criminal case opened against him about the abuse of office.

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