The fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko considers the proceedings on the grounds of the receipt of Tomos for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to be a proof that some people in key positions of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Office lobby for the interests of the Russian Church in Ukraine.
This was stated by Poroshenko in his felicitations on the day of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine.
"Out of dozens of politically motivated cases brought against me upon the instruction of Volodymyr Zelensky, there is the one that makes me feel particularly proud. This is the case against the Tomos, which granted independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Шncredible as it may seem, this case is also being investigated.
The key positions in the President's office are now occupied by people who openly lobby for the interests of the Russian Church in Ukraine. This is despite the fact that the ROC fully and unconditionally supports the Kremlin's revanchist Imperial policy.
The government has blocked the law that obliges the Russian Church in Ukraine to indicate its official name as a link to Moscow, rather than masquerading as a Ukrainian sign. It also ignores the law that gave communities the right to transition to the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine freely.
But no one will be able to freeze the flourishing of our Church and its recognition by other Orthodox Churches. The OCU is growing and expanding. It strengthens its authority among Ukrainians. This is our achievement – and it is irreversible."
Petro Poroshenko noted that after the Baptism, it took us more than a thousand years to get our own independent Church.
He congratulated Ukrainians on the day of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine. He called for strengthening unity, spiritual freedom and "our free independent European Ukraine, founded by St Volodymyr the Great".