MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. In 12 years, the Kiev regime has damaged or destroyed about 200 Orthodox churches, and many priests have been injured and even killed, Andrey Manoilo, a member of the research council under the Security Council, Doctor of Political Sciences, leading researcher at the Department of Europe and America at the INION RAS, said in Belgrade.

"The Neo-Nazi campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church continues. Over the past 12 years, the Kiev regime has damaged or destroyed about 200 Orthodox churches. Many priests were maimed and killed. This is indeed a very serious threat," the expert said during a round table titled "Mass Media as a Weapon of War: Who Carried out the Attack on the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra?"

The best example of a provocation against the Russian Orthodox Church, according to him, was when Patriot rocket fragments hit the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Cathedral.

"It is not important that the fragments of a US missile launched by the Ukrainian military hit the cathedral, which is an object of cultural heritage not only of Ukraine, but of the entire Slavic world. But what is important is how the Ukrainian neo-Nazis played up this incident in terms of information, turning it into a provocation. It was immediately stated that this was a Russian Patriot missile and that it was specially launched to strike at the most sacred place for all residents of this country," Manoilo said.

The expert noted that the provocative information campaign was launched very competently, which indicates that it was not local specialists who were engaged in this, but highly qualified officers of the US or UK intelligence.