The secret life of UOC persecutors
Today the media published photos of a meeting between the main UOC-ban initiator M. Kniazhytsky and suspect in state treason V. Sivkovych. How is it related to the UOC?
Some Ukrainian Telegram channels with a million-strong audience, as well as some media outlets, have published information that can be called "sensational". They reported that the MP from the "European Solidarity" party Mykola Kniazhytsky regularly meets with Volodymyr Sivkovych.
One might ask: can't people just meet? Indeed, people can simply meet. But when these people are actively involved in politics and belong to opposing camps of two warring countries, serious questions arise. Especially when it comes to someone like Mykola Kniazhytsky – a deputy, a patriot and a Uniate advocating for the UOC ban. So, what's going on?
First, let's say a few words about these individuals.
Figurants of the Istanbul meetings
Kniazhytsky is known to us as the author of Bill № 8371 and one of the main initiators of the UOC ban. It is this man who calls our Church "a branch of the FSB and the Russian army" and demands that the provisions of the Tomos received by the OCU from the Phanar become part of Ukrainian law. We can talk about Kniazhytsky for a long time, but no less interesting is his vis-a-vis, that is, the person with whom he, according to the Ukrainian media, met abroad – Volodymyr Sivkovych.
Sivkovych is a former Ukrainian parliamentarian of three convocations, the deputy prime minister of the Azarov government in charge of the security bloc, former secretary of the National Security and Defence Council and a man who was charged with treason on 22 July 2022. Even before that, in January 2022, Sivkovych was placed on the US sanctions list for "assisting Russia in destabilising Ukraine", imposed against individuals who "act on the instructions of the Russian FSB and support Russian-directed influence operations".
According to the US, Sivkovych worked with Russian intelligence agents in carrying out "influence operations". In particular, he promoted the idea of ceding occupied Crimea to Russia in exchange for the withdrawal of Russian-backed armed groups from the Donbas.
We do not know to what extent the suspicions are true, but even the fact that a Ukrainian politician is meeting with the former head of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, who is hiding in Russia, looks at least very suspicious.
Especially because they have met on numerous occasions, including, presumably, after the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
Istanbul – a city of contrasts?
The immortal phrase "Istanbul is a city of contrasts" fits our story perfectly.
According to the Ukrainian media, "using his status as a people's deputy, Kniazhytsky travelled to the territories safe for representatives of the Russian Federation: Turkey and Austria. Several meetings were captured in photos. Kniazhytsky's trips are also confirmed by data from border crossing records".
Journalists (or those behind them) indeed provided photos of these meetings. In them, we see Kniazhytsky and a man who strongly resembles Sivkovych. They are photographed inside the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, and no later than the summer of 2022.
The media also reported that "according to the information provided, Poroshenko's associate (that is, Kniazhytsky) communicates with Sivkovych regarding information operations". It is precisely after meetings with him that "MP Kniazhytsky registered a bill to ban Telegram media in Ukraine".
Also, the fact that "judging by the data of the registers, Kniazhytsky and Sivkovych have been co-operating for a long time" became public. They are godfathers and co-founders of the NGO "Institute ‘Society’".
Putting the puzzles together
Kniazhytsky and Sivkovych are quite close friends who occasionally meet somewhere outside Ukraine. They met even after the war started and after Sivkovych was suspected of state treason. Their meetings have been known about for a long time, but they have been made public only now. At the same time, Kniazhytsky is a media active person who persistently creates a reputation of a patriot while Sivkovych is suspected of treason.
Undoubtedly, during these meetings there is not only cultural exchange (the photo from Aya Sofia suggests that the politicians took part in a tour of the temple) but also the exchange of information. What kind of information – we do not know. But we do know that Kniazhytsky is an enemy of the Church. What does it turn out? A very miserable picture.
It turns out that behind the persecution of the Church are people who have "a finger in the pie". It is not only about Kniazhytsky but also about many others.
For example, the most active raider of UOC churches in the Kyiv region is Serhiy Vozny, who before the war was an associate of the traitor MP Ilya Kiva. The same Kiva, who fled to Russia in 2022, and back in 2016 demanded that the monks of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra be expelled from the monastery. Let us recall his words spoken 8 years ago:
"Today, going out of the church, I felt the desire to free the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra from the Moscow FSB ghouls in cassocks who seized and raped it and return the holy shrine to the Ukrainian people. I am sure that with the liberation and return of the Lavra, the revival and liberation of the Ukrainian people will begin.”
Agree that both rhetoric, the general tone and even individual expressions of Kiva are almost exactly copied by people like Kniazhytsky and Vozny. This means that behind the persecution of the UOC are... the enemies of Ukraine.
Why did we only find out about this now?
There is another point that needs to be addressed.
We understand perfectly well that Ukrainian authorities have long been aware of the connections between Kniazhitsky and Sivkovych. But until now, they have remained silent.
Once again – they known about the meetings before. They knew when Kniazhytsky introduced a bill in the Rada to ban the UOC, they knew when he called the UOC a "branch of the FSB", they knew but remained silent. Why? Because all the dirt being thrown at our Church, all the wild accusations against its priests and laity are not just terrible lies but also terrible cynicism, behind which stand people who have nothing sacred in their souls. They push ordinary Ukrainians towards hatred, incite religious conflicts, provoke violence, earn themselves some political points, and against this backdrop – they are friends with FSB agents.
And then, when it was necessary to "pin down" former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, they talked about these meetings. Not because "the truth came out", but for completely different, political reasons. Which means that much of what is happening in our country today is only the result of political behind-the-scenes games, from which ordinary people suffer while politicians do not suffer at all.
They don't have time to suffer.
Because while ordinary people sit in the pre-trial detention centre, politicians have time for meetings with friends from Russia and sightseeing tours in Istanbul.
