Patriarch Bartholomew is thoroughly familiar with the processes in Ukraine and the "laity" will not be able to intimidate him, - Rostyslav Pavlenko

"He has an understanding of what is behind each position of the representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, he understands the attitude of other local churches to this. In other words, both the Patriarchate and its entourage have a very voluminous view of the situation, full of details and understanding of trends", Pavlenko explained.

Regarding the attitude of Patriarch Bartholomew to the protests against his arrival in Ukraine, which are organized by the newly created movement "lay people" in the UOC-MP, Pavlenko replied:

"It will not be possible to intimidate the patriarch with any publications in certain media outlets controlled by the Opposition Block for Life, or directly to Russian forces. In addition, we can see that the shares of this organization are not numerous. That is, the wave that they are trying to raise in the media does not correspond to the level that they would like to present to their Russian curators.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate just sees the difference between visibility and reality, they saw these actions of the organization "laypeople", organized by the Moscow Patriarchate. In the end, there are questions for law enforcement agencies, because the Church is separated from the state, and the state from the church, but the issue of security is assigned to the state. The Ecumenical Patriarch sees no danger regarding his arrival in Ukraine."

When asked if the patriarch is deeply aware of the situation in Ukraine, whether he considers pressure from the former deputy head of the presidential office Sergiy Trofimov to be interference by the secular authorities of Ukraine in church life, Pavlenko said:

"There are self-evident things. The Ukrainian state should ensure exactly what is prescribed in the Constitution, in the laws of Ukraine, namely, not to create pressure on the canonical Church of the OCU, which everyone expects from the Ukrainian authorities. He is very familiar with the facts about Trofymov and Tkachenko, about the President's Office, about local and regional stories. The Patriarchate tracks information that is available in open sources. Obviously, they (the Ecumenical Patriarch) communicate with various representatives of the UOC (OCU), monitor what is in open sources."