To confront the OCU, Russia uses hierarchs connected with the soviet secret service

Russia has not abandoned its attempts to prevent the activities of the OCU, it is still trying to destroy the achievements that already exist and to return the Ukrainian Church into an artificial vacuum, turning it away from the fellowship with the Orthodox world.

It has been stated by the speaker of the OCU, Archbishop Yevstratii (Zoria) in the TV-programme "Chas: Online" on "5 kanal", Ukrainian programme station.

"The Russian state uses Church connections, the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate, diplomacy, relations with Kremlin oligarchs. It uses the connections that have been developed since the Soviet times in a number of Local Orthodox Churches with those hierarchs that are closely tied to the Russian Church, who were trained there, including the secret services," Zoria claimed.

The Archbishop has mentioned a well-known fact: last year Greece officially announced a number of Russian diplomats as persona non grata.

"Then Greece officially announced a warning about the activities of such a structure as "The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society", which is headed by Mr Stepashyn, "former" intelligence officer. The Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly stated that the activities of this society, these diplomats were aimed at bribing hierarchs and clergy and the destruction of the authority and unity of Hellenism, in particular, in Palestine," recalled Bishop Yevstratii.

Despite this, the Archbishop of the OCU has consoled people and reassured that all the attempts of the Russian Federation will be unsuccessful, as history shows.

"One by one, the Local Orthodox Churches will recognize the OCU and start fully communicating with it. And sooner or later, when the Moscow Church is the last in this row, I am sure that it will recognize this new reality because history cannot be stopped or reversed," concluded Archbishop Yevstratii Zoria.