MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent letters to a number of international organizations demanding that they officially speak out regarding the Kiev authorities’ harassment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Metropolitan Longin (secular name: Mikhail Zhar), the abbot of the Holy Ascension Banchen monastery, which houses an orphanage for disabled children, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"For over six months, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has been persecuting the founder of the orphanage and abbot of the monastery, Metropolitan Longin, under whose care are more than 400 minors," the diplomat pointed out. She highlighted the fact that "the safety of these children will be jeopardized if their guardian is arrested."

"We could not simply stand idly by in this situation and, thus, have sent letters to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Director Matteo Mecacci, and other international human rights structures demanding that they give their assessments of the situation around the orphanage," Zakharova added.

She pointed out that the Russian side expects "a substantive response to the continued lawlessness of the Ukrainian authorities and, most importantly, to the fact that [the perpetrators of such criminal activity] are acting under the direct patronage of the collective West."