Ukrainian President sees Russian Orthodox Church as Threat

On Saturday, during a ceremony marking the country’s conversion to Christianity 1,030 years ago, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko claimed that the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church was a national security threat.

Currently, in Ukraine, there are two Orthodox Churches: the Russian, which is most popular, and the Ukrainian.

Since Ukraine has been facing a civil war supported by Russia, the Russian and Ukrainian branches of Orthodox Christianity have been moving away from each other. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church supported the demonstrations that led to a coup in 2014 and the fall of the Russia-backed government.

“I believe it is absolutely necessary to cut off all the tentacles with which the aggressor country operates inside the body of our state,” said Poroshenko about the Russian Orthodox Church. In his opinion, Russia uses the Church to implement a “revanchist imperial policy”.

By Antoine Dewaest

Photo: AFP-Archive