An interview with the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine Volodymyr Borodianskyy given to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, where he discourses upon the forcible renaming of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, shows that the current government and the so-called “servants of the people” have many of those who continue to think in the spirit of political Poroshenkovism, which is based on extreme nationalism, militarism, and attempts of the state’s gross interference with the affairs of the Church.

Borodianskyy reiterates the messages of the previous authorities that the UOC has ties with the aggressor state, and therefore should indicate a direct dependence on the Moscow Patriarchate in its name.

Some representatives of the new authorities forget that the credit of trust received by the “Servants of the People” party during the 2019 election campaigns is a consequence of citizens' reaction to the humanitarian policy pursued by the previous President. Voting for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his party, Ukrainian people voted primarily for the restoration of civil peace, for ending the policy of dividing Ukrainians into the “right” and the “wrong” ones, and against persecution on a language or religious basis.

Only a few months later, the Minister in the Government of the “Servants of the People” starts speaking with Petro Poroshenko's words. I believe that such rhetoric leads to extremely dangerous consequences. Its result may be a new wave of confrontation in society. Only a return to the constitutional field, only the cessation of attempts by the state to exert pressure on the canonical Orthodoxy, and the abolition of discriminatory laws can become a guarantee of peace and stability in Ukraine.

As for Minister Borodianskyy, the President, the Prime Minister, and the party that entrusted him with the ministerial mandate should immediately give their assessment to his rash and provocative statements.