Authorities put destruction of UOC on hold due to Vance's position – expert

J.D. Vance. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson

Political analyst Mykhailo Pavliv, speaking on the broadcast of blogger Oleksandr Shelest, said that the Ukrainian authorities had developed a specific plan to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but it was put on pause after the American side intervened.

According to Pavliv, the plan began to be implemented in the summer. Concrete steps were outlined for August–September: by the end of October, it was planned to fully ban the UOC, expel His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy from the country – since his term of stay as a person without citizenship was expiring – convene an extraordinary synod, and secure the unification of the Church with the OCU.

However, the process was interrupted by US Vice President J. D. Vance, who, according to the political analyst, effectively oversees Ukraine’s domestic political situation. After that, all legislative and judicial processes against the UOC were frozen. The blow also struck Bartholomew I, who had been playing an active role in these events: he was summoned to the United States, where he was demanded to stop such actions.

Pavliv also said that Ukraine has non-publicly confirmed its readiness to meet the conditions of the so-called plan of the Donald Trump administration regarding the UOC: to completely revise anti-church legislation and substantially change the norms concerning language.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that a congresswoman demanded explanations from Ambassador Stefanishyna in the United States over the persecution of the UOC community in Kuzmyn.

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