Expert: Increased church raiding and statements of OCU is no coincidence

Political expert Daniil Bogatyrev. Photo: screenshot of the YouTube channel 1Kozak

The resurgence of seizures of temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the recent statements of the head of the OCU Epiphany do not look like a coincidence. Political analyst, expert of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Daniil Bogatyrev said this on the air of First Cossack.

The expert recalled that the day before, Dumenko gave an extended interview in which he spoke about good relations with the authorities and announced a "large-scale wave of transitions".

At the same time, supporters of the OCU seized a temple in the village of Navoz in Volyn, tried to storm the temple in Novozhyvotiv in Vinnytsia region, and it also became known about the intention of the Vinnytsia Regional State Administration to illegally "transfer" to the OCU a temple in the village of Kovalivka, Vinnytsia region.

All this happened at approximately the same time, October 13-14, and, according to Daniil Bogatyrev, “the suspicion involuntarily creeps in if the statement by Dumenko is not just some kind of another bluff, but basically a planned aggressive action against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church".

“I don’t think this is some kind of coincidence. It seems to me that this is a deliberate action, which was planned by the representatives of the OCU together with individual loyal representatives of local authorities. In fact, a conspiracy is being carried out against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its communities,” the political analyst believes.

The UOJ also wrote that the State Service for Ethnic Policy offered the OCU to help with the “transition” documents.

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