Expert on raids: Violence against UOC undermines Ukraine’s national security

Natalia Vasilevich. Photo: Euroradio

Belarusian opposition human rights advocate and religious scholar Natalia Vasilevich commented on the recent seizures of Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) churches in Bukovina. Sharing a video statement from a soldier in Verkhni Stanivtsi about the criminal actions of OCU cleric Hryshchuk, the rights defender said such incidents undermine Ukraine’s national security.

"Now it’s coming from every iron: every day, there’s another church seized with thugs and power tools. Nothing is undermining Ukraine’s national security, its identity as a democratic and legal state, and its future more than this local violence," Vasilevich wrote.

According to her, the Ukrainian authorities are no longer capable of controlling the violence against the UOC:

"At first, I thought the state simply didn’t want to interfere. But the truth is, it no longer can."

"When a state cannot protect its citizens from bandit groups and cannot stop these groups, it ceases to exist as a state altogether," Vasilevich stressed.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Verkhni Stanivtsi, the OCU, with the help of police, seized a UOC church.

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