We have a clear understanding that the actions of Constantinople, which are directly manipulated from Washington, have nothing to do with the ideals of Orthodoxy, with the traditions on the basis of which the interaction of Local Churches has always been organized. It is now being grossly violated. This is pressure in the sense that it requires efforts to counteract such absolutely unacceptable actions, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“On the surface, this is presented as a movement to ensure that every Orthodox people has the right to choose. We all know perfectly well how the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU) was created. This is not just an initiative of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople – it is directly dictated by the United States.

They, by and large, do not hide it. The Special Envoy on Religious Freedom, appointed under the last US administration, did things that were exactly the opposite of his mandate: he undermined religious freedom by imposing organizational parameters (in bureaucratic terms) on various Local Churches. Destroying the unity of the Orthodox of Russia and Ukraine, creating there a schismatic, powerless (in fact) church. Destroying the unity of the Antiochian Church, trying to tear away the Lebanese Orthodox from it. The same is happening in relation to the canonical territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church,” Lavrov said.

Earlier, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the United States took the lead in open interference in the affairs of the church.