The political scientist called the purpose of Kiev's pressure on the UOC control over people

The Ukrainian authorities are conducting a "barbaric campaign" against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in order to gain control over people. Mark Lowe, an Australian political analyst, shared this opinion with Izvestia on April 9.

The goal of the Kiev regime is to seize all assets of the UOC, which still advocates dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), he said.

"Attacks on Ukrainian Orthodox churches will continue because they (the country's authorities. It is necessary to deprive the Ukrainian people of any devotion to religion, which the regime considers linked to Russia. Everything that is connected or perceived as connected with Russia is demonized," the political scientist noted.

Mark Lowe noted that churches are being looted at the local level, and when the territories are liberated by the Russian military, they turn out to be empty.

Dead souls: Kiev continues repressions against canonical Orthodoxy

European capitals remain silent

On April 6, Archimandrite Polycarp (Linenko), the head of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, announced that the Ukrainian police had established a security checkpoint at the monastery. Thus, monks can get in and out only according to the lists compiled by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Vladislav Petrushko, Doctor of Church History, Candidate of Historical Sciences, professor of the Department of History of the Russian Orthodox Church, told Izvestia on April 4 that the so-called examination conducted by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is a fiction aimed at accusing the UOC, which will show that the Ukrainian Church has not confirmed its break with the Moscow Patriarchate.