MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. The Permanent Commission on International Human Rights Cooperation of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights has called on the world’s religious leaders and international human rights organizations to stop the tyranny of the Ukrainian authorities and prevent the destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, according to a statement posted on the council’s Telegram channel on Friday.
The Human Rights Council’s members expressed hope that religious leaders would take note of the "existential threat to Ukraine’s major religious confession and its church" and will do their best to make sure that followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church maintain their inviolable right "to speak to God in their temples together with their spiritual pastors."
"We hope that the pontiff will speak out in support of the largest Christian denomination in Ukraine and will be able to take advantage of his authority over the Kiev leadership, who has long been oppressing its country’s religious majority," the statement reads.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky issued a decree enacting a resolution of the country’s National Security and Defense Council on Certain Aspects of the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine and the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions), which in fact aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In particular, he handed down instructions to submit a bill to parliament banning "religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation," step up "measures to identify and counter subversive activities by Russian special services in Ukraine’s religious sphere," and scrutinize the Charter governing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for signs of canonic ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. Recently, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies conducted a series of raids against UOC churches.