(LifeSiteNews) — Ukrainian businessman and Orthodox deacon Vadym Novynskyi told Tucker Carlson that President Volodmyr Zelensky is leading “a campaign of persecution and oppression against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
In the interview with Carlson, Novynskyi detailed the persecution that the members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) are facing under Zelensky.
“ Unfortunately, our government, led by Zelensky, has opened up a campaign of persecution and oppression against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the largest church in Ukraine, the largest denomination of Christians in Ukraine,” he stated.
“Over the past 10 years, persecution has intensified, and currently, right now, it is leading to terrible consequences,” the Ukrainian business magnate continued. ”As you know, in parliament, a law has been passed, which actually in fact bans the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so our archbishops are subjected to persecution.”
He said that the Ukrainian government is fabricating lawsuits against members of the UOC, that parishioners are “beaten,” and that churches are being seized. Additionally, many of the Metropolitans of the UOC were put in prison or under house arrest.
“Every day, churches and temples are seized by soldiers with machine guns who come in, throw out priests, beat believers, children, old people, women, countless priests … ” he told Carlson.
Novynskyi is a Russian-born businessman of Armenian descent. Together with his billionaire business partner Andrei Klyamko, he united several Ukrainian metallurgy companies into the Smart Holding Group, which now also owns significant assets in the oil and gas industry, shipbuilding, agriculture, and finance companies. He is a billionaire and one of the wealthiest people in Ukraine, a former politician, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, and a protodeacon of the UOC. Due to outspoken criticism of Zelensky, especially in the context of his actions against the UOC, he has been accused of treason and now lives in exile.
However, despite the accusation of siding with the Russians, he has publicly opposed the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and has condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. His private foundation has provided more than UAH 900 million (USD $24 million) in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
During the interview, Novynskyi thanked Carlson for being the first major media figure in the West to address the plight of the UOC when he interviewed its lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, in 2023.
READ: Lawyer to Tucker Carlson: Ukraine is committing ‘shocking’ persecution of Orthodox Christians
He went on to thank J.D. Vance, who, “while he was still a congressman, raised his voice in support of our church.”
“He was the only politician in the West who defended our church at that time,” Novynskyi stated.
His remarks revealed the split within the Orthodox churches when it comes to defending the UOC from attacks by the Ukrainian government.
“ We receive a lot of support from the Jerusalem Church, the Georgia Church, the Serbian Church, and their patriarchs,” he said. However, he accused the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople of siding with the Ukrainian government.
“Unfortunately, they’re doing this together and the fact that not once has he raised his voice in, supported the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, despite all of its persecution, proves that he is actually involved in all of this.”
Novynskyi accused President Zelensky, who has postponed the scheduled presidential election until the end of the war, of acting like a dictator and said that he expects more sanctions against him after this interview with Carlson.
“I have various criminal investigations going on against me for false and groundless accusations,” he noted. “And after this interview and after I say what I think is happening in our country, I am sure that there will be more persecution against me, but I’m not afraid.”
The conflict between the UOC and the Ukrainian government
The UOC was formerly subordinate to the Patriarchate of Moscow and is therefore being accused of still being a pro-Russian agency by Ukrainian authorities despite officially breaking with Moscow in 2022 after the Russian invasion. Both the United Nations and many Orthodox prelates have condemned the Ukrainian government for its persecution of the UOC.
The similarly named Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was formally established in December 2018 and January 2019 as a nationalist alternative to the UOC. However, most Orthodox churches do not recognize the OCU as legitimate and consider it schismatic.
Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, churches that are seen as supporting the other side are often persecuted. Similar to the Ukrainian government’s persecution of the UOC, Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk has said that Russia banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) and destroyed multiple parish churches in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
READ: Tucker Carlson slams Zelensky for banning churches over former links to Russia
