Famous American blogger Tucker Carlson published interview with former People’s Deputy of Ukraine, leader of the “Opposition Bloc” faction in the Verkhovna Rada of the 8th convocation, Vadym Novinsky. The ex-deputy is under sanctions and since January 2024 is a suspect of high treason and violation of equal rights of citizens.
In a conversation with Carlson, Novinsky announced the alleged persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), which he called a “denomination,” and claimed that its bishops, suspected of collaborating with the Russian occupiers and passing on information about the Armed Forces, are under house arrest “on false charges.”
Also in the podcast, he stated that “Satanism is flourishing” in Ukraine, explaining this by the fact that “inciting hatred is at the heart of modern politics.”
Vadym Novinsky, born in 1963 in the territory of modern Russia, became a citizen of Ukraine in 2012. He is known as the owner of the financial and industrial group “Smart-holding”, a pro-Russian politician and an activist of the UOC (MP), ordained as a deacon. At the beginning of 2022, he went abroad, submitted his parliamentary credentials and transferred his assets to a trust.
The NSDC decided to introduce personal sanctions against him on December 1, 2022, and later the restrictions were extended. In 2023, according to the SBU, Novinsky’s assets worth more than 3.5 billion hryvnias were seized.
In January 2024, he was charged with treason and violation of the equality of citizens on religious grounds under Articles 111 and 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The SBU also reported new evidence of his subversive activities and the spread of pro-Russian narratives through the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church in Europe. Nowynskyi, who is currently hiding abroad, continues to publicly justify the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
