Violating the principle of separation of the Church from the state, confirmed by Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the leadership of Ukraine and local self-government bodies officially require the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to join other religious organizations. This was stated by the head of the DECR ROC, Metropolitan Anthony (Sevryuk) in his speech at the UN Security Council meeting on the issue of the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the DECR website writes.

“The Ukrainian media is conducting an unbridled slanderous campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with calls for a complete ban on its activities, the use of pressure and violence against its representatives, which bears clear signs of hate speech. Such an information background leads to a surge of violence against believers: numerous cases of arson and vandalism in churches, facts of beatings or even attempted murder of the clergy – sometimes right in churches, during worship,” the hierarch said.

He urged “to pay attention to the illegal actions of the state authorities of Ukraine in relation to the country’s largest confession, numerous facts of violation of the rights of believers.”