Political analyst and chairman of the board of the Penta Political Consulting Bureau Volodymyr Fesenko said that the bill No 8371 aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was not put to a vote in the Verkhovna Rada because the authorities may not be interested in the development of this issue now. The political scientist believes that the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus does not make such decisions independently, which means that the ban of the UOC is being held back at the highest level. About this he told in a comment to the publication “Glavcom”.

“Sometimes in its bowels can be its own games, but always dominates the political position. If the president or the parliamentary majority insist, the Apparatus speeds up the process. Now, perhaps for the first time in history, there is a situation where the heads of the Apparatus receive a higher salary than deputies. But still, apparatchiks are politically dependent people who can be fired by the Verkhovna Rada leadership if something goes wrong. The specific issue of the UOC-MP may not be a priority for the authorities now, that is why the process is not accelerated. And it is unlikely that this is the initiative of the Apparatus itself – probably it is covered here by people from other high offices, who are guided by purely pragmatic political motives”, – Fesenko said.

We would like to point out that earlier we reported that MPs complained that the Verkhovna Rada apparatus did not put the bill No 8371 aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to a vote in the second reading.