MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Society and Mass Media Relations Vladimir Legoyda said that the crackdown against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) launched by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) not only violates the law, but also points to a complete loss of common sense.
"Not only does the bill violate legal norms, for example, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which enshrines ‘freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance’ but it also points to the loss of the last remnants of common sense," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.
The clerical official noted that it was not clear how the NSDC was going to implement its stated task of ensuring compliance of the future bill to ban the UOC with the norms of international law in the sphere of freedom of conscience.
Situation around UOC
On Thursday, Ukraine’s president, Vladimir Zelensky, issued a decree to enact a resolution of the National Security and Defense Council on Certain Aspects of the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine and the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions), essentially aimed at banning the UOC. More specifically, he issued orders to submit a bill to parliament on banning "religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation," stepping up "measures to identify and counter subversive activities by Russian special services in Ukraine’s religious sphere," and scrutinizing the Charter governing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for signs of ecclesiastical and canonic links with the Moscow Patriarchate.
Recently, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies conducted a series of raids against UOC churches. There were reports of searches at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Monastery, the Archangel Michael’s Zverinets Monastery in Kiev, two monasteries in the Rovno Region, the Sarny diocese, and the Chernovtsy-Bukovina diocese.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims that "pro-Russian literature and millions in cash," as well as "materials denying the existence of Ukraine" were found.
On Friday, the SBU announced there had been another raid and investigative actions at nine UOC sites in the Zhytomyr, Transcarpathian and Rovno regions. The Metropolitan of the Kirovograd diocese of the UOC was charged with allegedly coordinating with Patriarch Kirill in "the spreading pro-Kremlin views" in the region. And the vicar of the UOC’s Kiev Metropolitanate was accused of distributing Russian literature.