Zelensky Regime Fomenting Hatred Against Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Russia

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Ukrainian lawmakers and officials are whipping up hate rhetoric against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has led to violence against its clergy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The rhetoric of hatred against the UOC is being stoked by prominent politicians, state leadership and regional officials, and a massive information campaign against it is being conducted in state and privately-owned media," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a report on Kiev's persecution of the UOC out on Tuesday.

The ministry noted that such rhetoric had resulted in acts of aggression and unmotivated violence against clergy and arson attacks on churches and shrines of the canonical Church.

In addition, the report noted that the United States was making it clear that it approved of Kiev's actions to persecute the UOC by failing to condemn them.

"During the persecution of Orthodox believers in Ukraine, they [the US] have not criticized the destructive church policy of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, thus apparently making it clear that they approve of the illegal actions of their subordinates," the foreign ministry said.

The problem of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine is "still not among the priorities of the United Nations and other specialized organizations," and in response to the foreign ministry's appeals, international organizations "limit themselves to reprimands," the report read.

"There is no adequate response to the anti-Orthodox policy of the ruling regime in Kiev, to the numerous cases of confiscation of real estate and property of the UOC, to the facts of arbitrariness and violence against clergy and believers," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that Ukraine is holding sham referendums to hand over the property of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

"Re-registration is carried out on the basis of fictitious referendums held among members of territorial, rather than religious, communities and sometimes outsiders," the ministry said in a report.

The ministry accused the Ukrainian government of forging documents to legitimize land grabs. It argued that mass transfers of property rights were not what people voted for but were pushed on communities by local officials with military backing.

"In addition to the paramilitary 'territorial defense' force, these seizures are often supported by local authorities and law enforcement agencies, and members of other religious organizations have been taking an active part in them," the report read.

Over the past year, the Ukrainian authorities have organized the largest wave of persecution against the UOC in the country's history. Citing its ties to Russia, local authorities in various regions of Ukraine have passed resolutions banning the activities of the Church, and a bill has been submitted to the country's parliament to effectively outlaw it throughout Ukraine.

Besides, the authorities have imposed sanctions on some members of the UOC clergy. The Security Service of Ukraine began to initiate criminal cases against the clergy of the UOC and to conduct "counter-intelligence activities," including searches of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries in an effort to find evidence of "anti-Ukrainian activities."