MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. By banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) the Kiev regime is deepening the split in Ukrainian society, thus deliberately destroying the centuries-old spiritual foundations of the people, Gennady Askaldovich, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative for cooperation in the field of the observance of the right to freedom of religion, said following the adoption of a relevant law by the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada).

"Another event has taken place in Ukraine testifying to the systematic and willful destruction of Christianity as a world religion by the Kiev regime. Today, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a long-discussed scandalous law On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations. The Kiev regime has now obtained an opportunity to enforce its long-term plans for banning and eradicating the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the territory of the country," the commentary reads.

"The clique of the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is deepening the split in Ukrainian society, deliberately ruining centuries-old spiritual foundations of the Orthodox believers of our brotherly Ukrainian people," Askaldovich said. "The persecutors are committing a historical crime. God will judge them."