So spoke Maria Zakharova and Dmitry Medvedev
...regarding the approval of the Ukrainian law banning the activities of religious groups tied to the Russian Orthodox Church.
You have probably read/heard from Western mainstream media (MSM) about the law passed on Tuesday 20th August 2024 by the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, banning the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the activities of religious groups tied to it, thus targeting also the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)1, despite its claim of independence from the Moscow Patriarchate - see for instance this APNews article, which I invite you to read for some context, if needed. So much for democracy and freedom of faith…
What follows is the English translation of Maria Zakharova’s statement posted on her Telegram channel the day after the approval of the Ukrainian bill (all emphasis original):
💬 The neo-Nazi regime of the overdue Zelensky by the hands of radicals and schismatics continues to carry out repression against the clergy of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the largest canonical church in this country in terms of the number of believers. Violent seizures of its religious facilities continue. For almost four months now, Metropolitan Arseniy, the vicar of the Sviatogorsk Lavra, has been languishing in detention on charges of “espionage”.
Now the junta, encouraged by the silence of the relevant human rights organisations (by the way, where is UNESCO?), has used the whole arsenal of dirty methods to push through the adoption in the final reading of the discriminatory law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Ostensibly representatives of other denominations, in reality servants of the puppet regime, were involved in this truly satanic action authorised by Zelensky, aimed at destroying canonical Orthodoxy by any means and widening the deepest split in Ukrainian society along religious lines.
This monstrous step by the illegitimate usurpers in Kyiv violates the provisions of a number of international human rights instruments and the laws of Ukraine itself. All the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and millions of Orthodox believers in that country must be restored and the perpetrators punished. Yesterday the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a detailed commentary to this effect.
And here is the English translation of the “detailed commentary” Maria Zakharova referred to in her statement above (all formatting original):
🎙 Commentary of the Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for co-operation in the field of ensuring the right to freedom of religion, Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, G.I. Askaldovich, in connection with the adoption of the law on banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Ukraine.
In connection with the adoption in Ukraine of a law banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)
💬 Another event has taken place in Ukraine that testifies to the Kyiv regime's purposeful and deliberate destruction of Christianity as a world religion. Today the Verkhovna Rada adopted the long-discussed scandalous law “On the protection of the constitutional order in the sphere of activities of religious organisations”.
Thus, the Kyiv regime has been given the opportunity to implement its long-term plans to ban and eradicate the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) from the territory of the country.
Recall that Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of worldview and religion. This right includes the freedom to profess any religion or not to profess any religion, to freely practice religious cults and ritual ceremonies individually or collectively, and to conduct religious activities”.
☝️ It is no secret that the Constitution of the country has no meaning for Zelensky's regime. It is enough to recall the cancellation of presidential elections.
The initiators of the law ignored the opinion of millions of believers, the position of the UOC itself, the legal community and even timid criticism of the regime's foreign patrons. All the efforts of the opponents of the criminal law were in vain. The political order to destroy in Ukraine the institution to which millions of people turn was stronger.
The approval of the law is a powerful blow to the entire Orthodoxy, a threat to its canonical unity.
❗️ For the first time we have witnessed an event in which an entire religious denomination is banned on the territory of a European state, the rights of millions of believers are openly trampled, and well-known international legal documents concerning freedom of religion are brazenly and shamelessly violated.
Of course, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church will assess this unlawful act, but it seems that the Holy See, Constantinople and other confessions should also speak out about what has happened.
❌ The Kiev regime once again demonstrates its disregard for its citizens and ignores the opinion of the sane part of the world community, which has repeatedly called things by their proper names: destruction, schism, and massacre of the UOC.
With its actions, the Zelensky clique is really only deepening the split in Ukrainian society, deliberately destroying the centuries-old spiritual foundations of the Orthodox believers of our brotherly Ukrainian people. The persecutors are committing a historical crime. God is their judge.
👉 For our part, we strongly condemn the unprecedented decision leading to a complete ban of the canonical UOC, and call on all concerned people, human rights organisations to unite in opposition to state arbitrariness against canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
The Zelensky regime has once again confirmed its dictatorial nature, its willingness to betray the most sacred things, to abuse the faith of millions of fellow citizens in order to serve its political goals.
What follows is Dmitry Medvedev’s latest post on his Telegram channel (in English) today, reacting to the bill approved in Ukraine the other day (all emphasis mine):
Soviet-era atheism pales in comparison with the foul stench of the rotting Ukrainian regime. The Soviet Union may have been an atheist country, but it didn’t outlaw religions or specific religious doctrines.
The neo-Nazi dogs, however, have the gall to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
It was poroshenko [sic, with lower case p], as we all know, who started this horrendous story. When it suited his ambitions and the urge to be elected as the president of Ukraine, he negotiated with the West a schism in Russian Orthodoxy and the establishment of the heretical Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Some of the “priests” of this so-called “church” have quite a reputation and have no business being at the pulpit. They were successful pimps who protected political prostitutes in Kiev. The idea, understandably, fell through as poroshenko [sic] lost and the project stalled. The Ukrainians didn’t leave the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.
It didn’t stop there. The country’s new leader was a scumbag with a drug problem and no religious identity, known for playing the piano with his naughty bits. That’s when the destruction of Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the persecution of Christians for their faith began in earnest, culminating in the decision passed by the Verkhovna Rada on August 20, 2024.
Make no mistake. We’re not talking about the actions of individual heretics and their followers like in the times of Arius, Apollinaris of Laodicea or bishop Macedonius of Constantinople. This is fully-fledged satanism, worshipped by the cocaine scumbag and his ghouls that gets enthusiastic support from the “civilised West” for the purpose of inflicting grave damage on Russia and its citizens.
Former Ukraine won’t get away with this. The country shall be destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah once were, and the payback awaits them not in the distant future in the afterlife. Quite on the contrary, the punishment will be earthly, cruel, painful and swift. For it says in the Bible: “And afterward Joshua smote them and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening” (Joshua 10:26).
And former Ukrainian lands shall once again behold the shining light of the True Orthodox Church in its former glory.
Not to be confused with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which instead pledged allegiance to Volodymir Zelensky’s Ukronazi regime.