Ukrainian historian compared the liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with the hybrid war waged againts Ukraine today

Russia adopted the repressive methods of the Soviet totalitarian system. It is important to know the method of the repressive apparatus, which mechanisms are still in action in Russia, to understand what is happening in Ukraine and is called a "hybrid war".

Volodymyr Viatrovych, head of the Institute of National Memory, said this today in Kyiv during the press conference opening the exhibition "To the Light of the Resurrection through the Thorns of Catacombs", He compared the Lviv pseudo (1946) and present aggression against Ukraine.

The historian stressed that the policy of the Soviet regime against Ukraine was and remains the policy of genocide. An essential element of this genocide was the destruction of Ukrainian national Church, which began in 1920ies in Central and Eastern Ukraine. Later this methodology of extermination was exported to Western Ukraine.

"Literally from the first weeks of the Soviet occupation of western Ukraine the repressive policy against the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church started. This process accelerated after the death of Metropolitan Sheptytsky and was completed by pseudosobor in 1946. This is not just a sad page of our history which we must remember, but we also need to understand the mechanisms of the Soviet totalitarian system which are also used today. This is a classic example of what today is called "hybrid warfare" - coercion, repression and informational provocation. In 1946 during Lviv pseudosobor the participants voted similarly as during the so-called Crimean referendum in 2014. Repressive mechanisms used by Russia in 1946 are in action now” - said Volodymyr Viatrovych.

The UGCC, which despite the persecution and elimination, survived in catacombs and is now growing, is another story of our victory, thinks the historian

"Soviet authorities failed to eliminate this Church and the underground Church gave impetus to the wider national democratic movement that put an end to the existence of the entire Soviet Union. This example inspires us today, "- concluded his speech Volodymyr Viatrovych.