The authorities are unlikely to accept Poroshenko-initiated bill without provoking mass protests from believers and clergy of the UOC, believes Konstantin Bondarenko.

It is unlikely that the majority representing the current government in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will adopt bill No. 5101, initiated by Petro Poroshenko and the deputies of the European Solidarity party, as this will turn a multi-million group of UOC believers against them and may provoke mass protests. This point of view was voiced by the Ukrainian political analyst, Candidate of Historical Sciences Konstantin Bondarenko in the commentary to the UOJ.

In his opinion, with the help of this bill, one can have theoretically another possibility of the actual liquidation of the UOC, but its provisions not only contradict human rights, but in general the concepts of common sense and basic decency: “Those points that are spelled out in the bill pose a clear threat (of liquidation of the UOC – Ed.), but I do not think that they will be used by the current government. They are unlikely to want to turn a multi-million group of Ukrainian Orthodox and canonical clergy against themselves, since this is fraught with very serious cataclysms in the state.”

The expert believes that Poroshenko is simply proposing another populist bill: “The bill not only contradicts human rights, but generally the concepts of common sense and basic decency. Poroshenko simply proposes another populist bill to play off in his electoral field, to mobilize his electorate and show himself as a patriot.”

As the UOJ reported, Poroshenko initiated a bill to liquidate religious organizations.