Aleksey Arestovich, an adviser to the Office of the President, spoke about the actions of the authorities against the UOC in an interview with the YouTube channel Rumors Walk.

“Did you see the headlines on Fox News when the SSU entered the Kiev-Pechersk and other laurels: “Zelensky declared war on Christianity”? Fox News is the main channel for the Republicans. Are these headlines good for Ukraine? Judging by the processes that are taking place there, we need to win over to our side those who are for us and put severe pressure on those who are against Ukraine. Or will we put pressure on all 6 million believers who go there, who cannot say a word of Russian? Do they just go there because their grandparents went there?! Are they all enemies and agents?!” Arestovich said.

He also claims that such political technology unequivocally harms the state.

“Do we want a normal power, or do we want to be idiots for the sake of a primitive split technology? This is political technology, not cultural policy. Everything is very simple: either we behave like reasonable people, or like idiots. We are behaving like idiots for now,” Arestovich said.