Russian Foreign Ministry says US directly influences church crisis in Ukraine

TheUSA has a direct influence on the development of the church crisis in Ukraine, and there is hope that US President Donald Trump will not let it get worse. This was stated by Gennady Askaldovich, special representative of the Russian Foreign Minister for cooperation in the field of observance of the rights to freedom of religion, at a briefing on February 4 on the publication of a new report on Kiev's persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

"We heard what were the statements on the eve of the Trump administration coming to power, his high-ranking staff already now, who said that they do not accept that an entire church denomination is banned," he said.

Askaldovich noted that Trump himself, who is a religious man committed to tradition, has also spoken about this. For this reason, according to the special representative of the Russian Foreign Minister, the new American president will probably not overlook the arbitrariness of Ukraine's attitude towards the UOC.

Ascaldovich reminded that the pre-election statements of politicians and their actions after coming to power, when they are entrusted with responsibility, are different. We cannot yet say how Trump and his administration will behave, but we can see that Ukraine is wary after their arrival. The Kiev leadership is waiting, trying to anticipate what the new authorities in Washington will do.

The diplomat expressed the opinion that the Ukrainian administration will now take all steps in line with the opinion of the USA. In the near future, it will become clear to what extent Ukraine is able to listen to international opinion, but the Russian Foreign Ministry has no illusions in this regard.

Askaldovich said that the report on the persecution of the UOC included a chapter on the role of the United States in the development of these events. In particular, it is pointed out that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former President Joe Biden pushed the Kiev leadership to split. He drew attention to the fact that the law on the protection of the constitutional order adopted in Ukraine had alarmed the world community with its cynicism and legal inconsistency.

The diplomat added that Moscow condemns Tallinn's pressure on the Estonian Orthodox Church, which the authorities of the Baltic republic are forcing to change its name so that its connection with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is no longer traceable. Askaldovich emphasized that state interference in the life of a religious denomination is unacceptable.

Earlier, on January 28, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Ukrainian authorities are forcibly expelling the UOC from the Kiev-Pechersk Lav ra and ousting the Russian language from education, culture and everyday life, which is a brazen challenge to Article 1 of the UN Charter, which prescribes respect for the rights of every human being regardless of faith, sex, race and language. UNESCO is demonstratively inactive.

On January 4, Askaldovich noted that the profile report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), published on New Year's Eve, can only be welcomed by Moscow, because it for the first time assesses the persecution of the UOC and states that the Ukrainian authorities failed to justify the necessity of adopting a law that actually bans the canonical church.

Before that, on December 19 last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is taking place in Ukraine, is a blatant violation of the rights of believers, but the world prefers not to notice it.

Kiev's persecution of the canonical UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate began in 2022: criminal cases were brought against clergy and monks, they were expelled from churches, which were seized by unknown people in military uniforms and supporters of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU). Temples, churches, and even the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were searched: they were looking for a trace of "anti-Ukrainian activity" there. Believers tried to defend the churches, the seizure of which was almost always accompanied by violence, and went out to rallies.