Amsterdam: Yelensky is sowing hatred and will be held accountable
Yelensky. Photo: Ukrainska Pravda
Robert Amsterdam, the international legal counsel for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, issued a sharp statement directed at Viktor Yelensky, head of Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience [DESS].
In his social media post, Amsterdam accused Yelensky of “overseeing state's assault on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)” and having “a long record of undermining faith.” The lawyer also drew attention to Yelensky’s past – "from minimising antisemitism in the 1980s to attacking the UOC today.”
“He is sowing HATRED. If he doesn't stop now, he will be held accountable,” Amsterdam declared, using all caps to highlight his warning.
The statement by the international lawyer comes amid ongoing measures in Ukraine targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The State Service for Ethnopolitics, headed by Yelensky, is actively involved in implementing the law banning “religious organizations affiliated with the aggressor,” a law that is effectively directed against the UOC.
It should be recalled that Yelensky previously referred to all those who criticized the law banning the UOC as “useful idiots.”
Read also
Met. Tychikos' lawyers: He was removed after announcing audit of Metropolis
The lawyers ask why Archbishop Georgios removed Tychikos just two months after he announced an audit of the metropolis’s commercial projects.
Cypriot hierarch: Archbishop set conditions for repaying his own loan
Archbishop Georgios allegedly promised to repay the debt of the Paphos Metropolis, but demanded obedience in return and the reception of a Catholic delegation with the relics of Apostle Paul.
Kyiv theological schools begin admission procedure for new academic year
Archbishop Sylvester of Bilohorodka blessed the start of the 2026–2027 admissions campaign at the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary.
LGBT event held in central Lviv under police protection
In central Lviv, LGBT activists staged a public wedding reenactment and called on the authorities to legalize same-sex unions.
Patriarch Theophilos to mediate Ukraine war talks, media reports
U.S. President Donald Trump has approved the Primate of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church as a key mediator for a ceasefire.
Volyn TRC comments on detention of rector in Osmyhovychi
The military enlistment office said Archpriest Bohdan Katsevych had been found fit for service and sent to a military unit.