The occupying power, Russia, is convening a meeting of the UN Security Council on January 17 regarding the situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate. This was reported by Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Vasiliy Nebenzya, Russian media wrote.
According to the envoy, Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency has allegedly turned into an “authoritarian dictatorship,” which is “a significant obstacle on the way to peace.”
A representative of the russcists says that recently “the pursuit of dissidents and opposition leaders has been joined by the desire to destroy the only canonical church in Ukraine – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
In addition, the Russian Federation threatens escalation in the war in case of further pressure on collaborators in cassocks. According to Nebenzia, the pressure on the UOC (MP) will have serious consequences for regional peace and security. He emphasized that what is happening in Ukraine deserves close attention of UNSC members.
On January 13, First Deputy Ambassador of Russia to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, announced that the Russian side had initiated the January 17 meeting of the UN Security Council regarding the situation in Ukraine. It will start at 23:00 Moscow time. What is peculiar is that the Russians will have a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate as their rapporteur on the situation with the UOC(MP).
As reported by the Spiritual Front of Ukraine, a group of people’s deputies proposed that the Verkhovna Rada adopt a statement “On limiting the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian society and ensuring strict compliance with current legislation in the religious sphere.” Earlier, the Committee of the Rada recommended that the deputies ban the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
It is worth noting that the UOC (MP) brands the draft laws aimed at banning the Russian Church in Ukraine “persecution.” In addition, the raids and counter-intelligence measures by the SBU at the facilities of the UOC(MP) (aimed to identify collaborators) were also characterized there as “persecution of the Church.” Even the transition of parishes along with priests to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is referred to as “seizures”, which in fact is also included in the theses of “persecution”. That’s the authorities of Ukraine cleansing the country from the influence of the Russian Federation through the Church. These actions are opposed by the UOC (MP) and also by the Russian occupiers. All these statements about the “persecution” and confrontation of the UOC-MP with the authorities are effectively exploited by the Russian Federation, which is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine.
On the international stage, Russia is trying to discredit Ukraine and justify the military invasion, showing how the Ukrainian authorities allegedly “persecute” churchmen, citing manipulative statements of representatives of the UOC(MP). They, in turn, were unable to completely separate from the Russian Orthodox Church and declare full autocephaly. According to Metropolitan Klyment (Vecheria), the autocephaly of the UOC (MP) would mean “split”.
A day before the start of the full-scale invasion, the Spiritual Front of Ukraine had already reported how the ROC branch in Ukraine was playing along with the Kremlin, claiming “persecution” on the part of the Ukrainian authorities.
