Political analyst: OCU shows it has to cling on to Poroshenko

Head of the Third Sector Analytical Center, political analyst Andrei Zolotarev. Photo: economistua.com

A statement by the OCU about inadmissibility of “persecution” of the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko only confirmed that this church structure is his personal political project and thus it has to hold on to him, said the Director of the Third Sector Analytical Center, political analyst Andrei Zolotarev.

“They will actively support their patron, at least for now. It is clearly seen that with the departure of Poroshenko, the new team in Bankova lost all interest in this political venture, called the "OCU". It is clear that they will cling on to Poroshenko,” Zolotarev told the UOJ correspondent, who asked him to comment on the position of Epiphany Dumenko’s church structure.

According to the political analyst, the statement of the OCU is not in a position to dramaticaally influence the course of investigations regarding Poroshenko.

“The statement per se has little weight due to the insignificance of the OCU in the confessional plan. What did they manage to take over? 500 parishes? OCU is a purely political project of Poroshenko. There is no religion here, no canonicity,” the expert noted.

Zolotarev noted that what is happening around Poroshenko has nothing to do with religious life. The expert also does not consider the suspicions handed to the former President of Ukraine as a form of political persecution.

“The criminal cases against Poroshenko are reminiscent of a dragged-out ‘soap opera’. If we talk about the prospects – they chose the most insignificant and easily handled case for lawyers. It would be more interesting for people to follow the criminal case on Ukroboronprom (the investigation of the corruption case – Ed.) or “Lenin Forge” case (presumably, Poroshenko-owned plant bought goods from Russia with budget funds – Ed.), and while people were forced to tighten their belts, the guarantor was getting richer,” the political analyst noted.

The OCU showed with their violent response that the collection of “Russian Beauties” by the artist Glazunov (“the 43 paintings case”, according to which the ex-head of state is held as a witness – Ed.) is in the personal collection of Petro Poroshenko, the expert believes. He also does not exclude that the idea to come out in defense of the politician was born under the influence of American political actors.

“Perhaps there were curators from the Democrats. Trump Administration is unlikely to be engaged in this, since they are not interested in the OCU at all. But it’s precisely the curators from the side of the national democratic machine, who are still patronizing the OCU, and this might be a signal from them. It is enough to recall the appeals of certain people close to Biden to leave Poroshenko alone,” concluded Zolotarev.

On June 12, 2020, the church structure led by Epiphany Dumenko declared that “political persecution” of the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is untenable.

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