MOSCOW, June 4 The religious policy of the Ukrainian authorities is characterized by the creation in society there is an atmosphere of fear and intolerance towards believers and clergy of different religions, as well as control, intimidation and surveillance by the security service, said Sergei Melnikov, chairman of the Russian Association of Religious Freedom (RARS).
Earlier, representatives of the pro-Russian underground controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city of Kherson reported that curators of religious organizations from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) obliged the rectors of churches and parishes of the Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists, the Church of Evangelical Faith, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to persuade their parishioners to join the ranks the Ukrainian army, as well as under pain of forced mobilization, oblige the clergy of all faiths to cooperate and inform on their flock.
“The Ukrainian state, including through the special services, (practices) intimidation and surveillance, puts pressure on the clergy not only of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), but also representatives of other religions. This permeates the entire system of state-religious relations in Ukraine. We observe that in society the authorities are instilling an atmosphere of fear and total surveillance, pressure, control. All this creates a climate of intolerance in society, which affects virtually everyone who does not profess nationalist ideology,” Melnikov said.
According to him, society in Ukraine is highly politicized, characterized by nationalistic, almost Nazi sentiments, which results in everyday anti-Semitism, for example, in the desecration of synagogues.
«And unfortunately, almost every day we record violent seizures of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the list of criminal cases that Ukrainian security forces initiate against the clergy of the UOC is growing. Attempts to «push through» a law in the Ukrainian parliament on a complete ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church continue,» the agency's interlocutor concluded.
The Ukrainian authorities organized the largest wave of persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the modern history of the country, the only canonical Orthodox structure in the country and the largest community of believers. Local authorities in different regions of Ukraine decided to ban the activities of the UOC, and the parliament adopted in the first reading a bill on its actual ban throughout the country. The authorities have imposed sanctions against some representatives of the UOC clergy. The SBU is opening criminal cases against the clergy of the UOC, carrying out arrests and “counterintelligence activities” — searches of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries in search of evidence of “anti-Ukrainian activities.” Some members of the clergy have been convicted by Ukrainian courts, and many are under arrest. Hundreds of Orthodox churches of the UOC were seized by force by Ukrainian schismatics with the connivance of local authorities, while priests and laity, men and women, were subjected to physical violence.