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Russia’s top diplomat promises efforts to support Orthodox Ukrainians

According to Lavrov, the Kiev regime has targeted canonical Orthodoxy, relentlessly seizing or desecrating church buildings, attacking clerics and church goers

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russia will not abandon Orthodox believers in Ukraine and it will fight for the restoration and protection of the rights of the canonical Orthodox Church there, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Addressing an Easter-themed reception, Russia’s top diplomat said: "I would like to assure everybody here that Russia will not abandon Orthodox Ukrainians and it will make sure that their legitimate rights are respected and canonical Orthodoxy regains the central role in the spiritual life of people living on Ukrainian soil."

According to Lavrov, the Kiev regime has targeted canonical Orthodoxy, relentlessly seizing or desecrating church buildings and attacking clerics and church goers.

He called recent work authorized by Ukraine to review the historical and scientific value of the relics of saints at the country’s main monastery, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, abuse of the people’s religious feelings. "This blasphemy materializes with the acquiescence and even support from most European countries where the phantoms of neo-Nazism and satanism are raising their heads again," the Russian foreign minister concluded.

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