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UNSC meeting on Kiev's persecution of canonical Orthodox Church due on November 17

Western representatives, "for their part, requested a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine for November 21," Dmitry Polyansky noted

UNITED NATIONS, November 15. /TASS/. A UN Security Council meeting over Kiev authorities' persecution aimed at ousting the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be held on Friday, November 17, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

"Although the UN Security Council has to devote a significant part of its time to the escalation of the crisis in the Middle East, the Ukrainian topic continues to stay in the focus of our attention. We have requested for November 17 an open meeting of the Security Council on Kiev regime's persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. New York time (6:00 p.m. Moscow time). We are actively preparing for this meeting," the diplomat wrote in his Telegram channel.

Western countries, "for their part, requested a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine for November 21," Polyansky added.

Earlier in November, a court in Ukraine dismissed the appeal of the UOC to overturn the decision to rename it, which opens the way to the banning of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In addition, activists of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine seized UOC churches in the Transcarpathian and Kirovohrad regions.

Situation around Ukrainian Orthodox Church

In recent years, the Ukrainian authorities have been openly moving toward banning the UOC and this process has only intensified since February 2022. The schismatics from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with the Ukrainian government’s approval, have been taking over UOC churches by force and attacking UOC priests. The canonical church is being deprived of its right to lease land plots for siting its churches, while its priests are being accused of high treason and other crimes, sanctioned or stripped of citizenship. Although at least 5-6 mln Ukrainians still adhere to the UOC, according to data from the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, the officially sanctioned persecution of the canonical church continues unabated.

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