"There is one fundamental reason that is more important than all others as to why Russia is escalating its threat of invasion: Over the past 30-year period Ukraine has been demonstrating a progressive development of a democratic, inclusive society. Six different presidents have been elected, and there is freedom of the press and religion... Darkness fears the light... That's why Russia reacted so strongly against the forging of a free and democratic Ukraine", said Metropolitan Borys Gudziak (UGCC) to EWTN.
"Ukraine welcomed back Crimean Tatars — a Muslim community whom Stalin deported from Crimea in 1944 in ethnic cleansing. The country has a Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and has had a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman. There is a vibrant civil society with countless NGOs that supplement and challenge government authorities, providing the checks and balances needed to safeguard the civil rights of all citizens, not only those in power. The country has some 100 religious confessions all with equal civic rights. The public discourse is replete with all possible opinions. It is a country with growing transparency. This is what autocracies and totalitarian regimes fear most — that their dictatorial control will be lost, that too many free forces emerge in society.
The example of Ukraine, which is just next door, is a threat to Belarus, Kazakhstan and most of all to Russia. That’s why Russia reacted so strongly against the forging of a free and democratic Ukraine and Georgia. That is why Russia supports repression in Belarus and Kazakhstan. In post-Soviet Russia, no president has ever lost an election. The system of rule is a dictatorial kleptocracy without authentic freedoms of the press, religion or political activity.
Darkness fears the light. People, especially young people, in Ukraine want to go forward. They do not want to go back to the kind of dictatorial rule which in the 20th century Russia imposed and which contributed to the killing of 15 million people on Ukrainian soil. Ukrainians are fostering their own self-determination, their own creativity, their God-given dignity and freedom.
Russian rulers fear that this social consciousness might spread across the border. They find Ukraine to be a dangerous precedent and real threat to the prospects of rebuilding authoritarian Russian hegemony inside their country and in the near abroad", said Metropolitan Borys.
Metropolitan Borys’ 2019 appearance on EWTN Live: