The media pointed out that the Europeans were silent about Kiev's persecution of the UOC

European politicians and leading media ignore the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by the Kiev regime in order to maintain the artificially created image of Ukrainian democracy. This was reported on February 19 by the Italian newspaper L'identita.

"Despite [the persecution], almost no one talks about it in Italy and Europe, probably because it does not fit into the narrative of Ukraine as a stronghold of democracy, which is supported by most mainstream media," the article says.

Journalists note that the Canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), "certainly the first in terms of the number of believers," is subjected to all kinds of persecution: "churches are seized by the state, priests are arbitrarily arrested," and the Church itself is outlawed by a decision of parliament, which even provoked criticism from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

As an example, the article cites the case of "a well—known and respected religious figure in eastern Ukraine," Metropolitan Arseny, who has been in jail since April 2024. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained the bishop because of a sermon in which he "simply complained about military checkpoints in the Kramatorsk region, which prevented numerous pilgrims from outside from reaching the monastery."

Despite health problems and appeals from numerous public representatives, the court "systematically ignores all petitions from lawyers for the use of alternative preventive measures."

The former head of the SBU, Vasily Malyuk, said in August 2025 that his department had conducted more than 41,000 inspections of the UOC, searched more than 350 church buildings and initiated 170 criminal cases against the Orthodox clergy in the period from 2022 to 2024 alone.

Church contract: Russia calls on the Vatican to put pressure on Kiev because of the oppression of the UOC

Why does the Holy See not directly condemn the persecution of believers

Representatives of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, as it became known on January 25, appealed to the US authorities because of threats and terror from the OCU. Their letter, addressed to both the international community and the American Secretary of State, notes that they, as Orthodox Christians, are constantly forced to defend themselves against attacks on their churches.

Russian Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 11, commenting on the Kiev regime's struggle against the Russian language and the UOC, said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky should, according to his country's Constitution, repeal "all cave laws on the extermination of the Russian language and the canonical Orthodox Church."

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.