Is it possible for Ukrainians to prove to the state that they’re Ukrainian?
DESS grounds its research on Russian documents. Photo: UOJ
Imagine you are a resident of Mariupol, Berdiansk, or any other city in the occupied territory, and you have fled to Ukrainian-controlled areas. Now, you need to receive assistance from the state or at least a certificate that you are registered in a Ukrainian city and are a Ukrainian citizen. But the response you get is that you are not Ukrainian. They claim that the Russian Constitution states that Mariupol, Berdiansk, etc. are Russian territories, meaning they are Russian.
Think this is fiction? Well, it's actually the reality.
The State Ethnopolitics Service has outlined the signs of "affiliation" of UOC communities with the ROC, which they plan to use as grounds for banning them. There are 7 such signs. However, just one is enough to impose a ban. Let's quote item 4: "In the documents and decisions of a religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine, there are signs of the entry into its structure of a religious organization operating in Ukraine."
In simpler terms, if the ROC documents state that the UOC is part of its structure, this is enough for the Ukrainian authorities to ban any communities, monasteries, or eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And the fact that the UOC's statute has no links to the Moscow Patriarchate is of no interest.
And this is the most cognitive of all the dissonances. The Russian Church is considered by Ukrainian authorities as part of the Kremlin's ideology. Criminal cases are opened against its hierarchs, and sanctions are imposed. Yet, the same ROC documents are used by the Ukrainian state as a basis for enacting legislative acts.
This is, of course, a disgrace and a complete lack of basic logic.
If someone recognizes the legitimacy of Russian documents that declare the Crimea and the Donbas as Russian, criminal cases are opened against them.
However, if someone recognizes the legitimacy of Russian documents that declare UOC communities as Russian, they are considered patriots and great state figures. And not just recognizing them as legitimate, but also using Russian documents to create Ukrainian laws.
This is so strange that you can only be left confused. Maybe someone needs psychiatric help?
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