Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Alexei Danilov said that “the Russian Federation is trying to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, using all possible resources, including religious institutions.” He said this on the air of the telethon on August 5, 2023.

According to Danilov, this is especially evident in the last two weeks.

“Huge campaigns of discredit are going on, special operations are going on in the information space not only on the territory of our country, but also in the West,” he stressed, without specifying what exactly he was talking about.

Danilov stressed that “the Russians cannot defeat us on the battlefield, so they are trying to undermine the situation inside the country.” He noted that the Russian Federation has been trying to “divide Ukraine into parts” for years.

“Unfortunately, religious institutions that are subordinate to the Russian Federation are involved in this,” the NSDC secretary said.

Danilov expressed regret that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not adopt a law that concerns the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“It is a pity that the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada still do not adopt laws that would put an end to this issue. This must be dealt with, because if we leave this unresolved problem, then it is only a matter of time when they will involve people, someone in open, and someone in a closed format, to achieve their goal,” the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council emphasized.

To a clarifying question whether it was a ban on the UOC, Danilov replied that it was about the compliance of its activities with our laws and the Constitution.

“This is how it should be interpreted. We do not ban anyone, we say that if you have a registration center in Muscovy, then keep in mind that this is not acceptable at a time when we are at war with Russia,” he stressed.