Yelensky: UOC lawyer tells Americans Zelensky eats Christian babies
The head of DESS accused Robert Amsterdam of distorting the Ukrainian authorities' treatment of the UOC when speaking to American audiences.
Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), sought to ridicule UOC attorney Robert Amsterdam, who has been informing American politicians about the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The official made the remarks in an interview with the History Without Myths YouTube channel.
According to Yelensky, Amsterdam is a lobbyist who spreads fabricated stories in the United States about the Ukrainian authorities' persecution of the UOC. "They have access to very influential audiences and can tell them that Zelensky eats Christian babies," the DESS head remarked sarcastically.
Yelensky also recounted with amusement a meeting with Amsterdam at his agency. According to the official, the attorney warned him that he would face a tribunal for persecuting the Church, but Yelensky said he merely smiled in response.
"He isn't paid to listen to Yelensky's arguments. He's paid to intimidate him," the DESS head said, alleging that Amsterdam's work is funded by Russia and "fugitive Ukrainian oligarchs."
In the same interview, however, Yelensky himself cited figures illustrating the scale of pressure on the UOC. According to him, nearly 2,000 parishes have "left" the Church since 2018, with such "transfers" continuing "every week." The DESS head insists that these transfers take place "without conflict."
Yelensky also confirmed that DESS has already filed a lawsuit seeking to terminate the activities of the UOC's Kyiv Metropolia and is involved in 37 court proceedings.
On October 17, 2024, OCU supporters seized St. Michael's Cathedral of the UOC in Cherkasy. Believers and clergy inside the cathedral were injured during the takeover.
On August 20, 2024, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed Bill No. 3894-IX, effectively aimed at banning the UOC. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed it into law on August 24.
The international law firm Amsterdam & Partners represents the UOC internationally and has repeatedly contacted politicians and international organizations to raise concerns about the persecution of the Church in Ukraine.
