MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church to an execution that has gone unnoticed by the world, and warned of the repercussions.

"The ongoing situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a gross violation of human rights, religious freedoms. The church is simply being torn apart before the eyes of the world. It is akin to an execution. And yet, the world chooses to ignore it," Putin said. "I believe it will eventually come back to haunt those responsible," he added.

True pagans are the ones behind the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Russian president believes. "These people aren’t even atheists. Atheists believe in something. They believe there is no God. But that is their belief. These are not atheists, they are people with no faith at all, pagans," he explained.

Putin stated that the people orchestrating the persecution of the church are "ethnic Jews." "But have they ever been seen in a synagogue? No, they have not. It seems they aren’t Orthodox either, since they don’t go to church. They most certainly aren’t followers of Islam, and I doubt they can be seen in a mosque. These are people without any roots, holding dear nothing that we do," the president specified.

According to him, those behind the persecution also share no values with the majority of the Ukrainian people. "At some point, they will scurry away and head to a beach rather than a church. This is their choice. The overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian population is connected to Orthodoxy, so the Ukrainian people will someday call them out," the Russian leader concluded.