The Russian Foreign Ministry called the Estonian law on churches and religious communities discriminatory.

The new version of the Law on Churches and religious communities in Estonia is still discriminatory. This was announced on June 20 by Mikhail Melekh, Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for International cooperation in ensuring the right to freedom of religion.

"On June 18, in the third reading, the Estonian Parliament approved the next version of the Law on Churches and Religious Communities, which creates legal grounds for the termination of the activities of the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church <...>. The prepared version does not differ significantly from the previous one. His character is still discriminatory," Melekh said, quoted on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to him, in the fight against the church, Estonia has again failed to take into account well-known international legal norms related to the protection of religious rights and freedoms.

"Another thing is also obvious — the deliberate systematic rejection of sovereignty by the political elites of this country in favor of the dictates of numerous Euro-Atlantic curators. A state that erases the cultural and spiritual identity of its people cannot become anything other than a geopolitical project," he said.

In addition, Melekh also stated that such a state cannot be called legal and civilized. The Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that if Estonia had opened the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, then the state would have known about human rights arising from human dignity.

"What is happening in Estonia now is an attempt to deprive thousands of priests, monastics and believers of this dignity," Melekh added.

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Earlier, on June 18, the State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of ERR announced that the Riigikogu (Parliament) Estonia has adopted amendments to the law in the final reading, which may lead to the ban of the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church. It is specified that 68 deputies supported the project.