“It reeks of political technology,” political analyst on Met. Onuphry case

Political analyst Andriy Zolotaryov. Photo: Facebook

Political analyst Andriy Zolotaryov sees a political technology interest behind the situation with the revocation of citizenship of the UOC Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. He said this in a comment to "Strana".

In his opinion, "the Metropolitan Onuphry case conveniently overshadows several pieces of news unfavorable to the authorities — the 120 million hryvnias bail posted for Vice Prime Minister Chernyshov, the seizure of a settlement in the Dnipropetrovsk region, talks about the Americans exiting the war, and either the ‘freezing’ or reduction of their military supplies."

"This reeks of political technology!" the expert stated.

Zolotaryov also believes that UOC parishioners will "feel even more alienated from the state" due to the new attempt to pressure the Church.

"What kind of relationship can there be with the state if the authorities demonstrate discrimination based on religious affiliation? These are pure Bolshevik practices, for which Ukraine will have to pay," he notes.

The political analyst believes that "the authorities' main line is to completely push the UOC out of religious life."

“If they do want a new head of the UOC, it will be only the one who consents to its merger into the OCU. But the emphasis will remain on coercive tactics in dealing with the Church,” Zolotaryov comments.

As the UOJ previously wrote, UOC protodeacon and former MP Vadym Novynskyi, citing his sources, revealed Zelensky’s plan to dismantle and destroy the UOC. "A plan has been developed within the President’s Office: by revoking His Beatitude Onuphry’s citizenship and possibly expelling him from the country, to decapitate the Kyiv Metropolis, appoint one of the senior metropolitans as locum tenens, and then by convening the UOC Bishops Council under direct control of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), elect as primate one of the hierarchs demonstrating increased loyalty to the authorities."

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