Political expert: Attacks of the UOC temples happen due to hate fuelled by some MPs

His Eminence Clement told “Vesti” it is the thirteenth church assault for the last year. “Only the UOC is at gunpoint, while the MIA has not solved a single case so far. Even the case of the church attack in Baby Yar when young guys threw Molotov cocktails at the sanctity, has been dismissed by the law enforcers, who motivated it with the absence of the crime components, although there is a video on the Internet featuring the unknown attacking the temple and crying out nationalist slogans,” recounts His Eminence.

According to political experts, such occurrences are brought about by the policy of certain Parliamentarians who intentionally incite inter-faith animosity.

“These are the hatred seeds, planted by some MPs fuelling interfaith hatred. Indeed, the relations between KP and MP remain extremely intense, yet representatives of none of the denominations would act in that way,” says politologist Andrey Zolotariov.

In his opinion, such actions are carried out mostly by radical groups with support of their fellow-thinkers in the Parliament.

This position is also shared by political expert Konstantin Bondarenko. “The situation in the country vis-à-vis Moscow Patriarchate is poisonous. A lot of politicians unfairly place all the blame on the UOC, including the promotion of separatism, trying to make enemy #1 out of the Church.”

The situation is even more aggravated by the members of Kiev Patriarchate, pursuing an aggressive policy line against its rivals. “Being aware of the fact they have no chance of being recognized by the other confessions, they (UOC KP) are trying to conquer parishioners using all ploys,” says Mr Bondarenko.

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