Indeed, it is better to chew than to speak when you voice things that you have heard with only a half of your ear, or that have been put into your ears by biased experts. Because what comes out afterwards looks like some kind of terrible oxymoron, blessed by the stamp of an externally respected international organization.
I am referring to the report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, in which the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern that law enforcement searches of the premises of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) may be discriminatory. Following a series of searches by Ukraine's Security Service of monasteries, offices, educational institutions and other property of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Kyiv, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, as well as in Cherkasy, Volyn, Kherson, Ternopil, Poltava and Zakarpattia regions, clergy were interrogated using a polygraph.
Such close attention of UN human rights defenders to the structures of the actual branch of the Russian special services in Ukraine during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine is at least surprising. In any case, I have not found even a hint of UN 'concern' at a time when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was underground, driven there by the Soviet government and its punitive instrument, the KGB. For some reason, then, human rights activists turned a blind eye to the real repression and hundreds of clergy exiled to Siberia…
“In any case, I did not find even a hint of the UN's 'concern' at a time when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was underground, driven there by the Soviet government and its punitive instrument, the KGB. For some reason, then, human rights activists turned a blind eye to the real repression and hundreds of clergy exiled to Siberia…”
But why be surprised? If more recently the United Nations, or rather the head of the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry, Erik Møse, did not notice signs of genocide against Ukrainians by the Russian occupation army. Remarkably, this blindness became public just before the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an international arrest warrant for Putin.
In the case of the far-fetched 'arbitrariness' of Ukraine's Security Service against the structures and institutions of the Moscow Patriarchate, the remark about 'signs of discrimination' is also not accidental. This is a frantic propaganda campaign before the eviction of the monks of the Kyiv Cave Monastery from their cells, scheduled by the Ministry of Culture for March 29.
Of course, Kirill Gundyaev spoke in unison with the UN defenders of 'freedom of conscience.' First, he complained to everyone – even the Pope – about the 'increased state pressure on Orthodox Christians in Ukraine,' forgetting that the faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate are only part of those 'Christians,' and that there are no fewer supporters of the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The UN was also among the recipients of the FSB patriarch's message.
By the way, Kirill's advocacy of the UOC-MP structures was so sloppy that it can be used to draw a logical conclusion that the 'autocephalous' church is subordinate to Moscow, contrary to what Ukrainian clerics from Onufriy's camp claim.
“Kirill's advocacy of the UOC-MP structures was so sloppy that it can be used to draw a logical conclusion that the 'autocephalous' church is subordinate to Moscow, contrary to what Ukrainian clerics from Onufriy's camp claim.”
As far as I know, Pope Francis did not respond to Kirill's petition. Perhaps the voices of Ukrainians outraged by his ultra-pacifist position did reach the Pontiff, and he decided to distance himself from this scandal, despite his heart-to-heart talks with Kirill in Cuba in 2016…
But back to the UN and its assessments. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry made it clear that the New York-based pundits are, to put it mildly, confusing righteousness with sin. “Freedom of religion is not the same as the right to engage in activities that undermine national security,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko. The answer could have been sharper, but apparently the diplomatic lexicon does not include the words 'collaboration,' 'treason,' or 'aiding the occupying forces.' Neither does mentioning the arsenals of weapons in the spiritual monasteries of Moscow's 'angels' or the mountains of propaganda literature found by the SBU in places where they seemingly do not belong.
So I will return to the idea that I have expressed more than once and twice in my comments. The United Nations must be radically reformed. In particular, because of the dominance of the Russian lobby in its many structures. And in general, because the international community has been inactive for a year now, keeping the aggressor and destroyer of the world order among the members of its Security Council. Russia infects the environment with its imperial spirit, disregard for the law and human rights, corruption and lies. It is infecting to the point that 'contacts' with virus carriers must be quarantined.
About the author. Ihor Hulyk, journalist, editor-in-chief of the Espreso website.
The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.