Myroslav Marynovych, 74, is one of the last living Soviet dissidents in Ukraine. The vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv has been committed to human rights defense causes for decades, for which he was given a seven-year gulag sentence in 1977. He served this sentence in the infamous Perm VS-389/36 camp, 1,500 kilometers from Moscow in the Ural Mountains, followed by five years in exile in Kazakhstan. Today, he is one of Ukraine's most respected intellectual figures.
I'm a democrat so I believe that citizens of any country should have the right to criticize. But, at the same time, while observing what has happened in Ukraine, I can only welcome the fact that the intensity of political polemics is diminishing. This is not due to political persecution or censorship. Our nation has united in reflex to the war, and that's what's softening political debate.
Nevertheless, freedom of speech remains, as does that of the press. There are still television channels in the hands of the opposition, where you can hear views that are relatively critical of our president [Volodymyr Zelensky]. I'm not worried about freedom of expression in Ukraine.
I'm very surprised by this subject. How can an election be held in wartime? So many of our fellow citizens are abroad and so many others are under Russian occupation! An American friend retorted that, for Westerners, it's essential to organize such an election. But I want an honest and fair election. I don't want my country to be seen as an autocracy.
Absolutely, the debate exists, both on social media and in the media.
Without a doubt, some of the clergy are sincere in their faith. There was a declaration by the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate [UOC-MP] at the end of 2022 to settle this question over its independence. This included the right not to refer to the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, during prayers. This move did not go down well with the high clergy, who began to dismiss the 150 signatories of the declaration.
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