Moscow accuses Ukrainians of "Potemkin village" effort

Moscow, July 25 (Interfax) - Ukrainian authorities with the help of celebrations dedicated to the Day of Russia's Baptism try to convince Patriarch Bartholomew that millions of believers allegedly stand for autocephaly, deputy head of the UOC Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Nikolay Danilevich believes.

On Wednesday at a press-conference in Kiev he criticized state officials for impeding UOC parishioner in their coming to the procession with cross and try to organize the same events of the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate."

"Free buses are provided, the entire railway carriages are booked. Many people who have nothing to do with the Church will come. They should not bring mutes to Kiev and set up "Potemkin villages" in order to show Constantinople that allegedly there are millions of believers who support the so-called autocephaly. I know that Patriarch Bartholomew got acquainted with this information," the priest said.

According to him, "the addressees, for whom they ("authorities" - Interfax) do it, know it pretty well, and when they will look at the photos and watch videos from the "procession with cross," they will divide the number of its participants by ten."

"Potemkin village" in Russian is any construction (literal or figurative) built solely to deceive others into thinking that a situation is better than it really is.