The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine is now launching a new season in a series of shameless provocation, which is a rather predictable move, to be honest.
After all, only a few weeks are remaining until Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew comes to Kyiv to join celebrations of Ukraine’s 30th anniversary of independence, while Russia’s heavily financed efforts to discredit Ukraine and its Orthodox Church (OCU) have so far born no fruit.
Indeed, since a notorious “human rights forum” held by the ROCinU in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where propaganda narratives were spun about the alleged “persecution” of the so-called “UOC” members, as well as several rallies, ROC’s branch has somewhat decreased its destabilizing activity.
But we shouldn’t cherish vain hopes that this may be a manifestation of some “peaceful settlement” on the part of ROCinU. Their activity may have been curbed because over the past period they’ve been seeing internal squabbles both in the branch and in their parent organization in Russia’s Danilov Monastery.
So now, in early June, we’re seeing some new peculiar features: ROCinU are no longer representing themselves – they’re also acting through a puppet NGO Myryany (Laymen), urgently set up with the major purpose of pursuing provocations to destabilize Ukraine, broadcasting and channeling narratives of religious “persecution” of their believers in Ukraine.
The first such stunt by the Laymen, who should rather be called “Onufriy’s Squads” (or, to be more precise, Kirill’s Squads), will be a picket outside the Verkhovna Rada on June 15 with “rights protection” demands. Of course, this will be about the right to religion, wrapped in the good old propaganda narratives about “persecution”, expressed through the prism of resistance to swapping the name “UOC” to ROCinU.
Interestingly enough, the organization hastily created its own platforms on Telegram and Facebook, as well as a YouTube channel. Also, the Laymen have no own website yet, which further emphasizes the urgent nature of its founding and perhaps a short life span projection. And this is what’s most alarming, in fact.
The thing is that many short-lived NGOs are created for strictly narrow purposes, including providing situational extras or conducting seasonal campaigns.
It is obvious that Myryany is a project that the ROCinU will exploit in an ad hoc manner. The concept of its use by the Russian church branch implies that this pseudo organization could bombard the Presidential Office and Phanar with appeals of all kinds, set up forums, round tables, and conferences, and attract to its ranks actual members. And these members, in turn, could well be used as an element of propaganda, including beyond their own will.
I’ve repeatedly emphasized the idea that the campaign by ROCinU to compromise Ukraine and the OCU will yield the greatest results if “victims” are reported among parishioners.
For example, in March 2020, ROCinU’s media platforms inflamed a petty domestic conflict in a distant village of Zadubrivka, Chernivtsi region, to a level of “an act of violence against their church’s parishioner by followers of the OCU.” The fake spin turned out to be extremely ineffective, but it was quite showing – ROCinU is indeed ready to exploit the topic of violence in the framework of their wider project to tar Ukraine and the OCU.
Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if, as part of one of the steps by Myryany, a provocation would be staged against them, organized by ROCinU itself, disguised as an act by some “nationalist groups.”
In my opinion, the Myryany organization is precisely a project initially set up to become a part of such a scenario.
Alexander Kovalenko, Information Navigator
