There is no pressure on religious organizations in Ukraine, and as for the UOC (MP), the problem lies not in the Church itself, but in its ties with Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with American political commentator Ben Shapiro, the My Ukraina outlet reports.
“I believe Ukraine has the largest Council of Churches in Europe, all our Churches are united, different religions, but all are united… As for pressure, there is none, and you will never hear anything about pressure, because we do not engage in any additional dialogues with our religious institutions or religious leaders, there are no shadow practices, we are absolutely open, transparent. Everyone can tell you that there is no pressure, it does not exist, and every holiday we are together, we have people worshiping different religions, and we always invite everyone, this is important,” Zelensky said.
In his interview with Shapiro, the president particularly focused on the situation of the UOC (MP).
“As for the Moscow Church, this is not about the Moscow Church, this is about the thing that in the case of Russia, the Moscow Church is just another KGB agency. Everyone knows that the Russian security services control Churches. Well, that’s how they have it, it’s their choice, and their people either support that or not, it’s their right… Moscow cannot control our Church, their KGB, their intelligence cannot control or manage the Ukrainian Church. Therefore, the legislative changes in Ukraine are related to the fact that there cannot be any connection between Moscow and the Church, no one is shutting down anything or anyone, but it cannot be the case that the Russian KGB controls the Church in Ukraine,” Zelensky explained.
