DESS official who studied UOC’s links to ROC: We are not religious experts

Vyacheslav Horshkov. Photo: Ukrinform

Vyacheslav Horshkov, Head of the Department for Religious Affairs of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), stated that the study of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC’s ties to the ROC was carried out not by religious experts but by DESS staff. He said this in a comment to Ukrainian Radio Kharkiv, as reported by Suspilne.

“We had a research group formed. This is not a religious expert analysis. It is called a study. The research group consists of employees of our service,” Horshkov said.

According to him, ordinary officials check religious organizations for signs of affiliation with a banned religious organization.

The DESS official explained that they look for seven specific signs defined in the “Law on Protecting the Constitutional Order in the Activities of Religious Organizations.”

“Among them, for example, is official membership in the structures of the banned religious organization,” he noted.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that DESS researchers are simply ordinary bureaucrats with no education in religious studies or theology.

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