The Ukrainian scholars also denounce the presence in the governmental anti-cult agency MIVILUDES of a politician who supported the Russian occupation of Crimea.
by Bitter Winter
M. Emmanuel Macron
Président de la République Française
Palais de l’Élysée
75008 Paris
Kiev, February 17, 2023
Copy to:
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
Vadym Omeltchenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to France
Etienne de Poncins, Ambassador of France in Ukraine
Brigitte Macron, First lady of France
Re: Funding of FECRIS association by France – follow-up
Dear Mr. President,
We are a group of Ukrainian scholars and human rights defenders, most of us currently based in Ukraine. We wrote to you in November, drawing your attention on the funding of the pro-Russian association FECRIS by France, and asking you to intervene to put an end to this funding.
As we did not receive any answer, we take the liberty of writing to you to know what action you intend to take on our letter.
As we developed in our first letter, the support of FECRIS to Russian propaganda against Ukraine is very well documented. It started long time ago, and Vladimir Putin has now adopted FECRIS theories accusing the West of “Satanism” and “cultism,” and these accusations are part of his state propaganda apparatus.
In addition, we learned that the MIVILUDES, which is a governmental agency designed to fight what they call “cults” (sectes), officially partners with FECRIS and has amongst its executive ranks a former politician who participated in 2019 to a trip to occupied Crimea, with a French delegation that met with Vladimir Putin and condoned the Russian occupation of Crimea by the Russian forces. The name of this politician is Georges Fenech, and he is currently a member of the Orientation Council of the MIVILUDES.
This alone is outrageous.
As we stated in our previous letter, we deeply appreciate the help that France is providing to our country, in the most difficult situation that we are facing during these terrible times for our people. Nevertheless, we can’t believe that you are not going to act to correct this discrepancy.
Supporting financially and morally such anti-democratic organizations that are engaged in the Kremlin’s propaganda, and accepting in the ranks of a governmental agency, at such a high level, a politician who openly engaged in supporting the Russian invasion of Crimea is definitely wrong.
France should stand for its values and be consistent in what it stands for.
That is why we again, respectfully, ask you to make sure that France stops funding such an association which is an enemy of the West and democracy and has worked hand in hand with the Russian authorities against Ukraine. In addition, we would like to know what you intend to do as regards the Georges Fenech’s seating at the MIVILUDES.
Thank you very much for your help on this important matter.
Respectfully,
Anatoly Kolodny
President of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Chief Scientific Officer, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy, NASU (National Academy of Science of Ukraine)
Lyudmila Filipovych
Vice-president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy, professor, head of the Department of Philosophy and History of Religion, Institute of Philosophy, NASU
Alexander Sagan
Vice-President of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head of the Department of Religious Studies of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Petro Yarotskyi
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, leading scientist. Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy, NASU
Alla Aristova
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy, NASU
Vita Tytarenko
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy, NASU
Pavlo Pavlenko
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy, NASU
Oleg Buchma
Ph.D., Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Dmytro Bazik
Ph.D., Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Anna Kulagina
Ph.D., Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Gorkusha Oksana
Ph.D., Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Serhii Zdioruk
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, head of department Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine
Viktor Yelenskyi
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, head of the scientific department of the Institute of Ethnopolitics of NASU
Oleksandr Utkin
Doctor of History, Prof.
Petro Mazur
Ph.D. Doctor of Medicine, director of the Kremenets Medical School
Leonid Vyhovskyi
Doctor of Philosophy, head of department of philosophy, Khmelnytskyi University of Management and Law, head of the UAR of Khmelnytskyi (Ukrainian Academy of Religious Studies)
Vitaly Dokash
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, head of UAR Chernivtsi.
Eduard Martyniuk
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Assoc. professor, ONU (Odesa National University)
Tetiana Gavrylyuk
Doctor of Philosophy, Academy of Statistics
Vitaliy Matveev
Doctor of Philosophy, head of department, University of Bioresources
Ella Bystrytska
Doctor of Science, professor, head of the department, Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University
Olena Nikitchenko
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Odesa Academy
Volodymyr Lubsky
Doctor of Philosophy, prof.
Tatyana Gorbachenko
Doctor of Philosophy, prof.
Ihor Kozlovsky
Ph.D. Doctor of sciences, associate professor of science, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Lesya Skubko
Member of UARR
Iryna Fenno
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Assoc. prof. of religious studies of KNU (Kiev National University)
Iryna Klimuk
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophical Sciences
Nadia Stokolos
Dr. Doctor of History, Prof.
Olga Gold
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Assoc., Odesa
Mykhailo Murashkin
Dr. Ph.D., prof. Dnipro, Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, head of the UAR of the Dnipro Oblast
Evgeny Kononenko
Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Oksana Vynnychenko
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, USA
Serhiy Prysukhin
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, prof. KPBA (Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy)
Hanna Tregub
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, journalist
Ageev Vyacheslav
Co-founder of the Workshop for the Academic Study of Religion (WASR)
Alla Kiridon
Doctor of science, professor, director of VUE (the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia, State institution)
Taras Bednarchyk
Ph.D., associate professor, Vinnytsia Medical University
Ruslana Martych
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, associate professor, KU Grinchenko (Borys Hrinchenko Kyiv University)
Oleksandr Horban
Ph.D., prof. KU Grinchenko (Borys Hrinchenko Kyiv University)
Maria Bardyn
Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Department of Religion, Kyiv Region.
Volodymyr Verbytskyi
Doctor of Philosophy, KNU (Kiev National University)
Alyona Leshchenko
Doctor of Philosophy, prof. Kherson University
George Pankov
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, Kharkiv National University
Victoria Lyubashchenko
Prof. UKU (Ukrainian Catholic University)
Dmytro Gorevoy
Director of the Center for Religious Security NGO. Head of projects and programs of the Institute of Religion and Society of the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Yaroslav Yuvsechko
Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Khmelnytskyi University
Serhiy Geraskov
Ph.D. philos., Kyiv
Ivan Mozgovyi
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, Sumy
Yury Vilkhovy
Ph.D. History, Associated professor, Poltava Pedagogical University
Olga Dobrodum
Doctor of Philosophy, professor at the University of Bioresources
Said Ismagilov
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, former mufti of the “UMMA” Council
Yury Kovalenko
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Rector of the Open Orthodox University
Roman Nazarenko
Ph.D., UKU (Ukrainian Catholic University)
Oleg Sokolovsky
Doctor of Philosophy, prof., Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University
Oleg Yarosh
Ph.D., NASU, Kyiv
Maxim Doychik
Doctor of Philosophy, head department of philosophy of the Carpathian National University (Ivano-Frankivsk)
Yuriy Boreyko
Doctor of Philosophy, head department Eastern Europe University named after L. Ukrainki (Lutsk)
Olga Borisova
Doctor of History, Professor, Kharkiv Institute of Culture
Alexander Lakhno
Ph.D. history of sciences, vice-rector of the Poltava Pedagogical University
Larisa Vladychenko
Dr. Ph.D., prof., head Department Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers
Serhiy Shumylo
Doctor of History, director of the Athos Heritage Institute
Vadim Sliusar
Doctor in Politics. Prof. Zhytomyr
Vasyl Popovych
Doctor of Philosophy, professor, Zaporizhzhia
Mykola Kozlovets
Doctor of Philosophy, prof., Zhytomyr
Nadiya Volik
Doctor of History, associate professor, Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University
Yulia Shabanova
Doctor of Philosophy, Prof. Head of the Department of Philosophy and Pedagogy of the National Mining University “Dniprov Polytechnic”
Pavlo Yamchuk
Doctor of Philosophy, Prof., Uman National University, University of Horticulture
Maxim Vasin
Bachelor of Laws, executive Director of the IRS (Institute of Religious Freedom)
Nadia Rusko
Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor of the Department of Social Sciences, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas
Andriy Tyshchenko
Doctor of Philosophy, Kharkiv
Volodymyr Popov
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Donetsk University, Vinnytsia
Lyudmila Babenko
Doctor of History, Prof. Poltava Pedagogical University
Oleksandra Kovalenko
Kyiv, Open Orthodox University
Natalya Pavlyk
Institute of Pedagogical Education of NASU
Ruslan Khalikov
Ph.D. in religious studies, member of UARR (Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies), WASR (Workshop for the Academic Study of Religions), publisher.
Vitalii Shchepanskyi
Ph.D. in religious studies, member of WASR.
Anton Leshchynskyi
MA in religious studies, member of WASR.
Ihor Kolesnyk
PhD, assistant professor, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
Uliana Sevastianiv
Ph.D. in religious studies, member of WASR, lecturer of the Stepan Gzhytskyi National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology of Lviv
Oleg Kyselov
Ph.D. in religious studies, member of WASR and UARR, Senior Researcher, Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, NASU.
Olena Mishalova
Ph.D. in social philosophy and philosophy of history, member of WASR, associate professor, Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University.
Olha Mukha
Ph.D. in philosophy, member of WASR, Head of Educational and Informational Department of Memorial Museum “Territory of Terror”
