WASHINGTON, March 30. /TASS/. Participants in the US-hosted "Summit for Democracy" are silent about repressions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said in a statement.
"The repressions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are a grave violation of religious rights and freedoms enshrined in universal international legal documents, and a blatant example of discrimination against believers," the statement reads.
"The harassment of the monks comes at the time when Washington holds the ‘Summit for Democracy’ with calls to respect for the freedom of individuals, speech, conscience and religion. Zero reaction to the horrifying actions of Kiev authorities contradicts the Summit’s declared goals," Antonov stressed.
"What does the silence of the participants of the event as regards discrimination against the inhabitants of the monastery mean? Is it indifference, double standards, or proof of blind adherence to US guidelines?" the Russian envoy said.
"Aren't they aware here of the fact that in Ukraine clerics have long been driven from their parishes, temples are subject to humiliating searches, cathedrals are seized, and worshippers are harassed with threats of physical violence and deprivation of citizenship?" Antonov noted. "In this respect the decision of the organizers of the forum to invite Zelensky, who staged bacchanalia of lawlessness in order to split the Orthodox world, is inexplicable. What can this individual teach? Americans should find courage to move from moralizing at the ‘Summit for Democracy’ towards meaningful steps to stop blasphemy and crackdown on the Orthodox community," he added.
"For our part, we express support to the clergy and parishioners who are fighting for the preservation of historic and religious ties with the holy abode of Russian Orthodoxy," the Russian ambassador emphasized.
The second "Summit for Democracy," co-chaired by Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea, the United States and Zambia, is being held online on March 29-30.
On March 10, the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve terminated the open-ended lease with the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and ordered its monks to leave the monastery by March 29. The Lavra’s abbot, Metropolitan Pavel, slammed these actions as illegal and declared the monks’ refusal to leave.
The so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was created in 2018 from two schismatic organizations, which later obtained autocephaly from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Neither the Russian Orthodox Church nor the Ukrainian Orthodox Church recognize the canonical status of this religious organization. After the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, its supporters began to seize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s church buildings by force.