Religious scholar Nikolai Mitrokhin commented on the composition of the commission of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Society, which was engaged in determining the degree of dependence of the UOC on the ROC.

“In the predictable “expertise” prepared by the State Service of ethnopolitics and freedom of conscience regarding the degree of dependence of the UOC on Moscow, the list of experts turned out to be the most interesting. All of them turned out to be ardent and repeatedly exposed fans and propagandists of the OCU. But not all are specialists in Orthodoxy (but in kundalini yoga, yes). In the academic environment of Ukraine, for ten years now, such a topic as “religious security” has been developing. This is such a version of “scientific atheism” <…> and “independent Ukrainian Orthodoxy”, as well as “national-spiritual development”<…>. Well, expertise is the triumph of this approach. It would be funny if this were not regarded by the authorities as a formal reason to ban the largest religious organization in the country, for being independent and not wanting to turn churches into agitation centers,” writes Mitrokhin.