Lobbyists of Moscow priests will try to discredit the law abroad, but it will go to parliament for consideration – Poturaev

On March 5, the government bill (8371) regarding the exemption of certain religious organizations from subordination to the aggressor state will be considered by the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy. This was announced by the committee chairman Mykita Poturaiev (“Servant of the People”) to the public initiative “Holka”.

It is noteworthy that earlier the deputy stated that in February the bill could already be submitted for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada, but the timelines have changed.

“There was an initiative from my colleagues from the ‘European Solidarity’ to jointly revise certain points. We worked for about two weeks, and we already have a fully prepared text for consideration in the committee; we have complete consensus on this document. It so happened that committee members Mykola Knyazhytsky and Yevheniia Kravchuk were on foreign missions, and then I was at the OSCE Winter Session and only returned on February 26. I believe that we have a very powerful text; this is a case where we are not ashamed of our joint work. Lobbyists of Moscow priests will try to discredit the law abroad, but it will go to parliament,” Poturaiev notes.

And indeed, recently journalists from Channel 5 managed to film the lobbyist of the Moscow Patriarchate, Robert Amsterdam. By the way, as reported by the media citing sources, he met with Onufrii in Feofaniia.

After the bill passed the first reading, former Deputy Minister of Information Policy Dmytro Zolotukhin stated that lobbyists for the interests of the Moscow Patriarchate are paid $1400 per hour. He emphasized that this is done using funds from former MP Vadym Novynskyi.

Viktor Yelenskyi, the head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, emphasized in a comment:

“The state does not demand from the UOC-MP to change the liturgical language, switch to the new Julian calendar, or become part of another Church. Everything the bill 8371 is aimed at is a break with the center that is directly involved in aggression against Ukraine. Subordination to Moscow is not an evangelical institution and not part of the Holy Tradition. Therefore, the refusal to join the ROC, which by the way, the clergy of the UOC-MP ask their own clerics, simple priests, will not burden the conscience of the faithful of this Church, but, on the contrary, will purify it.”