Anton Gerashchenko becomes Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs
Anton Gerashchenko. Photo: YouTube screenshot
On September 25, at a closed government meeting, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Anton Gerashchenko as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, reports the MIA press service.
Anton Gerashchenko will coordinate the legislative support of the Ministry, interaction with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and parliamentary committees. Gerashchenko will also be responsible for public relations.
The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also reports that besides Gerashchenko, the Cabinet appointed Sergey Yarovoy as First Deputy Minister, Tatyana Kovalchuk, Sergey Goncharov, Ekaterina Pavlichenko and Alexander Gogilashvili as deputies.
Anton Gerashchenko is known for his statements against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. So, back in 2017, while holding the post of advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Gerashchenko declared that “the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is an instrument of Russia's influence on the consciousness of Ukrainians”, and he cannot “calmly watch when there is open anti-Ukrainian propaganda in the churches”.
Gerashchenko also said that the UOC is partially responsible for the deaths of 10 thousand people in the Donbass:
“See the “Mirotvorets” database, how many ministers of the Moscow Patriarchate are there? There are several hundreds of them! Those people who posed with guns against the backdrop of our killed soldiers who preached to disconnect part of Ukraine and annex it to Russia. All these people have violated the law and are criminals.”
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Anton Gerashchenko called on the SBU and the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine to investigate "the activities of the Ukrainian public organization ‘Union of Orthodox Journalists’".
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