Will the Ukrainian political elite listen to EU recommendations?

The European community has long paid attention to the religious conflict in Ukraine. Started by separate political forces in 2014, the interfaith struggle has increasingly appeared in the reports of international human rights organizations. Obviously, this interest is caused not only by the facts of incitement to hatred against the UOC but the rhetoric used by the representatives of the opposing party.

The constant concern of the representatives of foreign missions is due to the fact that the decisions and fanning religious conflicts are absolutely unacceptable in a civilized democratic society. For example, during the recent OSCE meeting in Warsaw the special attention of human rights activists was focused on the situation in the village of Borovaya, where the aggressive-minded residents, with the tacit supervision of the police, completely destroyed premises fitted for the prayer needs of the UOC local community.

Also representatives of the UOC reported of the cases of incitement to religious hatred in Ternopol by representatives of the radical political organization "Right Sector". Its activists almost every week handed out leaflets with false and openly provocative content aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in society.

"If something like that happened to us in Poland, I'm not only talking about Catholics, but even Protestants, it would cause a big fuss in the press. And here, it is Orthodox, therefore, they are silent," – commented on the report Eugene Chikvin, an ex-deputy of the Polish Sejm. This is understandable, because in Europe the age of religious wars ended in early Renaissance, therefore, for EU members, a similar situation is unthinkable.

Last month, representatives of the monitoring mission of the OSCE actively investigated cases of outright aggression to the UOC in different regions of Ukraine. Human rights defenders inquired about the situation in the village of Kuty, Ternopol region, where supporters of the "Kiev Patriarchate" with members of the "Right sector" cut off the locks from the doors of the local Church and illegally grabbed it.

It should also be noted that in addition to physical aggression, the representatives of the "Kiev Patriarchate" and some political forces actively use information resource, constantly fuelling the conflict with hate speech. This was particularly noticeable during the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession for peace, organized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the early summer of this year.

Hysteria around this event in the Ukrainian media was quite large-scale, though expected. In parallel with this, high-ranked officials of the UOC-KP were involved in the campaign on discrediting the UOC. So, a representative of the "Kiev Patriarchate" sarcastically named the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession "an advance of MP to Kiev." During the whole time of the prayer procession of UOC believers to the capital of Ukraine, Eustratiy Zoria gracefully "joked" over religious people, at the same time spreading the information that in the ranks of cross-walkers there were Russian military men and representatives of armed groups of LDNR.

However, in less elegant form, hate speeches directed at the Cross Procession were joined by members of various public organizations. So, the AFU servicemen Oleg Bondarenko with the code name "Bird" was especially remembered due to threats against the faithful of the UOC, who walked to the capital in the procession. "You will not leave Kiev alive," said the soldier in the video, addressing his threats to the faithful of the UOC, adding: "We tolerate you as a dog – fleas".

Some representatives of the "clergy" of various denominations also "excelled". The member of the "Kyiv Patriarchate" Alexander Dediukhin called the UOC faithful "Moscow ghouls", the chaplain of the UGCC Nicholai Medinsky – "Russian rot". The head of the UGCC, commenting on the Cross Procession, called it the "so called", and Lubomir Husar in an interview denied the UOC of the right to be called the Ukrainian Church. All this, not counting the numerous statements of politicians and representatives of authorities that the Cross Procession was a planned provocation and almost a terrorist act, is evidence of hate speech.

Interestingly, as soon as the nationwide Cross Procession came to an end, the degree of aggression to the UOC also dropped. The media suddenly turned their attention entirely to other things; such loudspeakers of hatred like Eustratiy Zoria, Filaret and the like had to hold off for a while. After that different dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church organized processions, which were fewer in number, and they, oddly enough, did not attract much attention from opponents of the UOC.

In principle, hate speech directed at the UOC with greater or lesser intensity continue to periodically sound from lips of representatives of various social fields. "I’ve just returned from Volyn. The Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has a great influence there...But the authorities should and must destroy it," said Lieutenant-General, Chairman of the UOU (Kiev), Alexander Skipalsky during a press conference on the theme "The Information War with Russia: the Recipes of Victory", which was held in Kiev on September 17.

We can recall the sayings of the "Metropolitan of the Kiev Patriarchate" Michael Zinkevich, and various Ukrainian religious scientists, and a lot of different examples on how in Ukraine not only democratic, but also the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens to free and unfettered religion are neglected. It is therefore not by chance that taking into consideration all the facts which were reported to the representatives of the European community, the EU recommended Ukraine to punish at the legislative level for inciting hatred on religious grounds.

Such a situation definitely carries a lot of risks and dangers to the Ukrainian society. Especially it should be noted that the resolution of such situations is a test for Ukrainian authorities to respect democratic principles. So, only time will show if the political elite will have enough will to restore the rule of law, making Ukraine a legal state, and if officials will listen to the recommendations of the European community.