Russian Foreign Ministry speaks of OSCE’s lack of action toward seizure of … – Interfax
News
29 December 2015, 12:50
Russian Foreign Ministry speaks of OSCE’s lack of action toward seizure of churches of Moscow Patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Moscow, December 29, Interfax – Moscow is troubled by the situation surrounding the Assumption Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and calls on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to appropriately assess the Kyiv authorities’ attitude towards the seizure of churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
“We are extremely concerned by the situation surrounding the Assumption Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, located in the village of Ptichya in the Rovno Region. The church with worshippers is being besieged by followers of the non-canonical Kyiv Patriarchate and supporters of the ultra-right Right Sector demanding its [church’s] immediate handover to dissenters,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department said in a commentary on Tuesday.
“We are convinced that this confrontation in the Rovno Region has become a result of systematically hushing up the problems of restrictions of religious freedoms and violations of worshippers’ rights by the Ukrainian authorities. But, even bearing in mind the entire gravity of the situation, there has been no appropriate response so far from the leadership of the OSCE and its Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine,” the ministry said.
“We believe that the OSCE should say in a straightforward manner that the Kyiv authorities’ stance on the seizure of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is a violation of Kyiv’s international commitments in the sphere of human rights,” it said.
“The SMM apparently considered to be sufficiently ‘dry’ a commentary in its December 24 report mentioning the absence of any ‘serious incidents’ and any considerable damage. At the same time, SMM observers use information provided by the local police, even without going to the trouble of verifying it. We would like to advise the observers to discuss this topic with representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in order to gain an objective picture of what is happening to this and other churches in the territory of Ukraine,” the Russian ministry said.
Print this pageHome