Expert: OCU servicing under flags of right-wing radicals is no surprise

A "service" of the OCU, dedicated to the anniversary of the Battle of Berestechko. Photo: pomisna.info

There is no surprise that the OCU conducts its "services" under the flags of right-wing radical parties. So the Ukrainian political scientist, the founder and director of the Kyiv Center for Political Studies and Conflictology, Mikhail Pogrebinsky, commented for 112 Ukraine on the OCU event dedicated to the anniversary of the Battle of Berestechko.

The political expert noted that the OCU is a pseudo-religious organization artificially created as part of a process aimed at splitting not only Ukrainian but also world Orthodoxy.

“It is no coincidence that they (OCU – Ed.) hold their “services” under the flags of right-wing radical parties,” Mikhail Pogrebinsky said. “No surprise. They are 99% political, not religious. They simply do not exist without the political context."

The supposedly independent OCU, the expert added, depends on political parties and "on a Turkish citizen who works for the Americans and Erdogan," and relies on "that part of the Ukrainian believers who are actually deceived".

“I think there are many people, thousands, real believers, but they are victims of political propaganda. <...> I just sympathize – there are a lot of honest people for whom politics does not really matter, but they just historically turned out to be inclined to support such an anti-Moscow campaign from within the Orthodox Church. I think that sooner or later these people will return to the bosom of the canonical Church,” the political expert concluded.

On July 4, 2021, in the village of Pliasheva, Rivne region, the OCU held a “service” on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Berestechko. The participants of the event, which was headed by Epiphany Dumenko, instead of icons, crosses and banners, brought the flags of Ukraine, the Svoboda party and the UPA.

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