MP: Hopes that the U.S. will pressure us to leave the UOC alone are in vain

Mykyta Poturaev. Photo: Sokolova's YouTube channel

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, MP Mykyta Poturaev, stated on Lviv Media that the Ukrainian authorities are not afraid of U.S. sanctions and are determined to see through their campaign to eliminate the UOC.

Commenting on remarks by the Russian Foreign Minister that “Russia will not abandon the Orthodox people of Ukraine in their time of trouble and will ensure that their legal rights are respected, and that canonical Orthodoxy regains its central place in the spiritual life of the people on Ukrainian soil,” Poturaev claimed that this was “an attempt to pass the ball to Washington.”

“They still hope that there are people over there (in the U.S. – Ed.) living under the illusion that this so-called ROC Church and all its branches are actually the Church, and that Russia is some kind of nation that upholds Christian values. It’s an attempt to pass the ball there so that someone puts pressure on us: ‘Take your hands off the Christian Church.’ But in reality, I am convinced these hopes are absolutely in vain,” the MP said.

He recalled the visit to Ukraine of “a spiritual leader very close to President Trump” (apparently referring to Mark Burns), who, Poturaiev claimed, “saw everything here with his own eyes.”

As a reminder, Moshe Azman, a rabbi close to the Office of the President, arranged the visit of Pastor Mark Burns to Ukraine. The authorities organized meetings for him with Andriy Yermak, members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), and excursions to Bucha, Irpin, and Vyshhorod. Following the visit, Burns declared that claims about the persecution of Christians by the authorities were fake, as religious leaders from the OCU, UGCC, Protestants, and Jews had assured him otherwise.

“Fake news suggested that Ukraine hated churches, Ukraine hated ministries, that they intentionally destroyed ministries. Well, that is a bold-faced lie, because I was in the midst of some of Ukraine's greatest spiritual leaders from all different sects, religious organizations, in one room in Kyiv, and they all have the same common ground – they have the right to practice their faith in Ukraine,” Burns stated.

Representatives of the UOC were not invited by the Office of the President to meet with him.

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