Expert: “pandemonium” of media around UOC hides hot-button issues at Parliament

Heating up by the media and authorities of the tension around the UOC on the eve of a new plenary week in the Verkhovna Rada plays the role of a distracting maneuver from the troublesome draft laws, such as the law on Donbass de-occupation. This opinion was expressed by political expert Alexei Yakubin, reports ”RIA Novosti Ukraina”.

"The Church issue has been stoked by the authorities over the past weeks, I do not rule out the possibility that we will see the emergence of anti-church bills. But this can be done to create a media pandemonium, which will cover other pressing problems like, for instance, not entirely desirable reaction to the law on the de-occupation of Donbass," says the expert.

Mr Yakubin assumes that anti-church bills can play the role of a distracting maneuver: in his opinion, they have not been recalled since May of the last year, but now they will come just in the way.

Earlier, the appearance of scandalous bills on the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada caused a wide response. Throughout the country, more than 350 thousand signatures of believers were collected, which asked MPs not to encroach on the independence of their Church.