Media: Cabinet appoints an active enemy of UOC head of State Ethnic Policy
Viktor Yelensky. Photo: synod.ugcc.ua
On December 16, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine agreed on the appointment of the former MP and enemy of the Church, Viktor Yelensky, to the post of head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, LB.ua reports.
According to Left Bank sources, the appointment order will be published on Monday.
In addition, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience was transferred to the direct subordination of the Cabinet of Ministers. Previously, the Cabinet of Ministers coordinated its activities through the Minister of Culture and Information Policy.
Now all structural divisions of the regional and Kyiv city state (military) administrations will be accountable and controlled by the SEFC on the issues of ethnopolitics and freedom of conscience.
Viktor Yelensky is a deputy of the VIII convocation from the Popular Front party, a former adviser to Prime Minister Arsen Yatsenyuk in 2014, later on the list of Groyssman's party.
Yelensky is a well-known enemy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, “the father of the law on 'transfers' of communities,” and also one of the authors of anti-church laws adopted by Poroshenko’s government.
Read also
18th-century gates of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra presented in London
State art historians have identified masterpieces by Kyiv goldsmiths in London.
In mosque, OCU "bishop" and DESS experts dine at iftar during Ramadan
At an iftar in Kyiv, authors of expert assessments against the UOC were awarded Islamic orders in the presence of the deputy head of DESS and a "hierarch" of Dumenko's structure.
Shevchuk tells Budanov of UGCC’s “state-building role”
The head of the Uniates told the head of the Presidential Office that his Church was ready to partner with the state and presented him with a book on the work of special services in the Church.
Authorities decline to disclose Ukraine’s population size
The State Statistics Service acknowledged that it has up-to-date population estimates for the country, but has decided not to make them public.
Lithuanian govt vows to protect Orthodox Church from Russian intelligence
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has called for curbing the influence of Russian intelligence services on the Church, while an adviser to President Nausėda warned against labeling the entire structure a security threat.
During Ramadan, Patriarch Theodoros hosts Islamic iftar at his residence
Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria hosted a meal for Muslim workers breaking their fast in the courtyard of the Patriarchate and thanked a sheikh for his “brotherhood.”