The Ukrainian Party has called on Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarch Kirill to stop splitting Ukrainian society, otherwise they will apply for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to declare him persona non grata.
Leader of the Ukrainian Party Oleh Oliynyk claimed that Patriarch Kirill continues "inflaming animosity between confessions and violating the laws of our country," and added that this time the patriarch choose different tactics and voices his "provocative claims" through his spokesmen.
In the case of continuation of these tactics by Patriarch Kirill "we will have to apply for the guarantor of the Constitution [Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych] and the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine to intervene in this situation and prevent the development of this conflict between confessions, and we will apply for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to declare Patriarch Kirill persona non grata in Ukraine," Oliynyk said.
Earlier this week, Serhiy Lebedev, a spokesman for the Odesa eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said the eparchy called on President Yanukovych to annul the registration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.
The Ukrainian Party is led by Ihor Nasalyk, the mayor of the town of Kalush, the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Patriarch Kirill is currently on a pastoral visit to Ukraine.
