MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. Kiev ignores UN reports about the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), and the response of various international bodies does not lead to tangible results, Mikhail Melekh, Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative for international cooperation for ensuring the right to freedom of religion, said in response to a question from TASS.

"If we are talking about a broad international response, then the main focus on the persecution of the canonical church is constantly addressed by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Since 2019, his office has periodically returned to this topic to varying degrees. In addition, the UN Human Rights Committee drew attention to the problem in 2021. In 2025, seven UN special rapporteurs also drew attention to various aspects of this problem, but Ukraine generally ignores all these concerns," the diplomat said at a news briefing.

According to him, the topic of persecution against the UOC is "increasingly being raised, which is encouraging, in the media, including abroad, and the legal community is addressing it."

"Voices are also being heard from representatives and heads of various religious organizations. To some extent, representatives of the US Congress joined this process, but, unfortunately, these are still rather scattered actions that do not lead to tangible results or to changing this situation. I hope our report will contribute to this in every possible way," Melekh concluded.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry published a report on the unlawful actions of the Kiev regime against the UOC, its clergy, and parishioners. It said that the purpose of the report is to document mass violations of the right to freedom of religion and other human rights and freedoms in Ukraine, to draw the international community’s attention to the current situation, and to encourage its participants to provide objective assessments of the crimes committed by the Kiev regime against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.