Former President Petro Poroshenko served as a sexton in the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate and was its patron for many years. This is stated in the response of the UOC-MP to the request of lawyer Olena Isayevska, writes “Law and Business”, reports UNN.
“At one time, Poroshenko was a parishioner and patron of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church... Given the information where Poroshenko carries an icon in a sticharas surrounded by the clergy of the UOC, we can conclude that he was fulfilling the obedience of a sexton at that time,” the churchmen replied. They explained that a sexton is a layman who belongs to the lowest rank of clergy.
Therefore, this answer refutes the claim that Poroshenko has never served the Moscow Patriarchate. And patronage in this case can be assessed as direct funding of the UOC-MP.
According to Law and Business, Poroshenko could have used his ministry in the Moscow church to further his career in the governments of Viktor Yanukovych and Mykola Azarov, where he served as a minister. In 2012, he even presented Yanukovych with an original painting by Aivazovsky.
According to media reports, Poroshenko did business in Russia even after the annexation of Crimea.
Poroshenko was also accused of colluding with Russia and the LDNR militants during the 2014-2015 hostilities to purchase coal in the occupied Donbas. He directly gave instructions to negotiate with Putin. During the same period, a conversation was published on the Internet, during which Poroshenko said to Putin “I shake hands! I hug you!