On the liquidation of the UOC (MP): why Moscow is delaying the court process.

According to inkorr.com: Head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics Viktor Yelensky stated that the Moscow church is delaying the consideration of the case regarding the liquidation of the Kyiv Metropolitanate. According to him, the church's lawyers resort to aggressive tactics and abuse court procedures to slow down the process. The church denies receiving the injunction confirmed by Metropolitan Onufriy.

“They claim that they did not receive the injunction, while the Kyiv Metropolitan wrote in his letter that we received your injunction and will not comply with it. […] They constantly lie and stall for time, because if the hearing begins on the merits, they will have to explain why they do not want to withdraw from the organization that is directly involved in the war against Ukraine.”

Lawyer of the metropolitanate Mykyta Chekman noted that more than a thousand applications from believers had been submitted to be involved in the case as third parties, but only 300 of them made it to the office, which caused a delay in the consideration. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for December.

Reminder about the status of the Kyiv Metropolitanate

The UOC Kyiv Metropolitanate was recognized as an affiliated foreign religious organization, which contradicts Ukrainian legislation. The State Service of Ukraine required to sever ties with the Russian church by August 18.

The authorities of Ukraine continue to fight for independence and separation from the Russian Orthodox Church, which runs counter to the interests of the Moscow Patriarchate, which seeks to maintain control over Ukrainian church structures. The consideration of the case on the liquidation of the Kyiv Metropolitanate is an important step in Ukraine's state policy in the context of separation from Russia.