Vladimir Putin commented on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the Valdai Forum

During his speech at the Valdai Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the complex situation surrounding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). According to him, the international community has failed to respond adequately to what is happening to the clergy and churches in Ukraine.

The Russian head of state described the current events as “horrifying,” citing the killings of clergy, the eviction of people from church buildings, and the forcible seizure of churches. Putin emphasized that, despite the gravity of the situation, there has been complete silence from European institutions and the international community.

In his speech, the Russian president linked the pressure on the UOC to the geopolitical goals of Western sponsors. He asserts that such actions are aimed at permanently severing Ukraine’s territory and people from Russia, which, in the Russian leader’s view, makes peaceful coexistence in the future practically impossible.

“The international community remains silent, yet terrible things are happening to the Church there: priests are being killed, people are being thrown out of churches, and churches are being seized. And silence… As if nothing were happening. And why? Because they, too, are being used by Western sponsors—European ones—to resolve the final issue of separating the territory and people from Russia and creating conditions that make peaceful coexistence impossible in the future,” said Vladimir Putin.

As a reminder, earlier, Archbishop Silvestr (Stoychev) of Belogorodsk, a hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), issued an official statement ( ), emphasizing that “the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) does not need Russia’s mediation to resolve its internal problems.” This statement was a response to a report published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which the Russian side attempts to assume the role of “defender” of Orthodoxy in Ukraine.