Amsterdam: Destruction of UOC is US policy

Pompeo and Patriarch Bartholomew meeting at the Phanar. Photo: the website of the Phanar archons

American lawyer Robert Amsterdam said in an interview with Alexander Shelesta's YouTube channel that the processes to destroy the UOC were initiated by the US authorities back under the Trump presidency.

"We learned last week from Robert Destro, Assistant Secretary of State under Trump, that it was a US policy to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to reduce its influence and role in Ukraine," Amsterdam said.

According to him, this explains the huge amount of black PR that has been spread about the Church.

Amsterdam says this was possible because of the position of Patriarch Bartholomew, who "has allowed himself to be an instrument of US policy." Asked how the head of the Phanar is viewed by Americans, the lawyer said, "Nobody in the US knows Patriarch Bartholomew, except for people in the State Department."

He claims that Pat. Bartholomew, then President Poroshenko and Secretary of State Pompeo negotiated the dramatic changes in the life of the Church in Ukraine.

"And they were criticized for it," Amsterdam said, stressing that the state should stay out of the Church, and such behavior is illegal for representatives of America and contrary to the Ukrainian Constitution.

As earlier reported, Amsterdam intends to meet in Kyiv with members of the UOC Synod and the government.

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