Amsterdam: Ukrainian authorities gave $3.6 million to PR firm to smear UOC

Ukrainian officials at the International Religious Freedom Summit and Ukrainian Week in Washington. Photo: DESS website

Robert Amsterdam, an international lawyer for the UOC, told Tucker Carlson in an interview that the Ukrainian authorities are engaged in a campaign to discredit both him personally and the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church. To achieve this, they turned to PR specialists.

"I can tell you that because of the smear, and we understand that the Ukrainians gave a $3.6 million contract to a PR firm in Washington to go after my church and me. So I've had vicious letters written about me all over the place talking about me as a Russian agent," Amsterdam stated.

He underscored that Ukrainian authorities constantly refer to Russian crimes in Donbas to justify their own persecution of the UOC by portraying it as "Russian."

"And what they're [the authorities] doing is they're running shows and movies about Russian activities, anti-evangelical activities in the Donbass, which I believe are happening and which I completely support. There is no one more than me who will support evangelicals or anyone else who are being oppressed. But to sponsor this type of activity and not mention our church is a scandal. To avoid mentioning the majority church of Ukrainians and never say a word about law 3894 that destroys our church. We will not have a church in six months," Amsterdam said.

According to him, "the Ukrainians have developed the most sophisticated propaganda and information campaign" he has ever seen.

"I have never seen any country engage in this level of competent, highly sophisticated disinformation. By the way, they accuse the Russians of. There is no day of the week the Russians have been 10% as effective as the Ukrainians," the lawyer said.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Amsterdam, the establishment of the OCU was a special operation of the U.S. government.

Read also