In an interview to Independent Newspaper, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) expressed an opinion that the concept of the "Russian World" is a barren flower of Russian ideology, which has nothing to do with the church or history.
"This is a concept which was once viewed by CK of CPSU [Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union] as a very comfortable ideological tool. This pseudo-scientific platform is now being reanimated as the imperialistic idea of the renewal of the Soviet Union. When the idea of the 'common cradle' is introduced ino the society, it manigests in such initiatives as the unification referendum. When it is introduced into the church platform, the ideas of a so-called Russian Peace appear, which actually should be correctly called the Russian World," said the hierarch.
"We understand very clearly what it is about, what the reason is, and what goals are sought to be achieved. I think that an educated person in Ukraine and in Russia can look at such attempts to reanimate such barren flowers of the Soviet ideology only with irony. Ukrainians have a completely different concept of their own," added the patriarch.