Russian Foreign Ministry publishes detailed report on persecution of UOC

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has published a detailed report on the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The report describes cases of violations of the rights of the clergy and believers of the UOC, the adoption of anti-church laws by the Ukrainian government, the seizure of churches and monasteries, and other facts of discrimination that the Church has faced in recent years. The text of the report can be found on the website of the institution.

The report published by the Russian Foreign Ministry is divided into eight sections. They include, in particular, the following discriminatory laws of Ukraine directed against the UOC; illegal actions of the Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies against the UOC; actions of Ukrainian local authorities and self-government bodies against the UOC; seizure of UOC churches and illegal re-registration of communities; pressure of state and regional authorities on the largest monasteries of the UOC; hate speech, unmotivated aggression and violence against the clergy and believers of the UOC; US influence on the development of the church crisis in Ukraine; and the reaction of the international community.

“For many years, the Kyiv authorities have been actively pursuing a course in Ukraine to eliminate the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), discriminate against its clergy, persecute clergy and believers, and force the flock to join the artificially created schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). To this end, the country’s legislative system is being built, and the actions of various government and law enforcement agencies are being guided. Since 2022, the persecution of canonical Orthodoxy in the country has intensified significantly. The Kyiv regime has undergone a political mutation. The conditions created by it as a result of the introduction of martial law made it possible to build a rigid authoritarian system of government in the country, characterized by an absolute monopoly on power, extrajudicial killings, total censorship and state propaganda, the actual elimination of independent media and the destruction of the political opposition, and an active search for “traitors,” fictitious Russian spies and saboteurs,” — the report says.

In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the role of the United States and the Patriarchate of Constantinople in creating the current situation. The Foreign Ministry believes that the Phanar and the State Department thus provoked not only the Ukrainian but also the pan-Orthodox church crisis.

“It should be borne in mind that the events taking place in Ukraine fit into the overall picture of the systemic crisis of world Orthodoxy caused by the policy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the United States and other Western countries, which encourages schismatics. The Kyiv authorities and the West are trying to divide the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, to destroy the spiritual closeness of Orthodox believers in the two countries, even despite the UOC’s decision to declare independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. To this end, in 2018, in opposition to the canonical UOC, the schismatic OCU was created, which in 2019 Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, in violation of the norms of canon law, granted autocephalous status,” — the document says.

Earlier, we reported that the media published Trump’s 100-day plan, according to which the head of the White House has developed a roadmap for achieving peace in Ukraine. According to reputable American and European publications, Donald Trump planned to reach a truce by Easter (April 20, 2025), and to end the conflict completely by May 9. In addition, according to media reports, the peace treaty will include a clause protecting the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.