Yelensky calls all critics of the law banning UOC “useful idiots”

Viktor Yelensky. Photo: ukrinform.ua

The head of the DESS, Viktor Yelensky, commented to the anti-Church outlet Ukrinform on the directives issued by his agency regarding the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC. According to him, these directives “dispel myths.”

“This is a remarkable step – never before in Ukraine have religious organizations been banned. But we are talking about a structure that is the ideological continuation of a criminal regime. This is not just a religious organization – this is, to quote directly from a PACE resolution, ‘a branch of the Russian Federation,’” he declared.

He announced that a number of “expert reviews” had previously been conducted that pointed to the “affiliation of the UOC with the ROC,” and that the new “DESS expert analysis” allegedly identified four out of seven signs of such “affiliation.”

“This directive demolishes the arguments of those law firms hired by fugitive oligarchs, adversaries, and just plain useful idiots. They claimed the law destroys religious freedom,” the official said, insisting that the directive proves otherwise.

Yelensky stated that “there is no betrayal of Orthodoxy here,” and that the anti-Church law “does not require changes to the Liturgy, language, or joining any other Church.”

For reference, international human rights organizations – including the UN, OSCE, Forum 18, the Anglican Church, the late Pope Francis, and numerous Orthodox Churches – have criticized the law banning the UOC and the persecution of Christians in Ukraine.

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