The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has declared systematic violations of religious freedom in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia and called on the international community to strongly condemn the criminal actions of the aggressor state. This is stated in a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, writes UNN.
Details
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine once again draws the attention of the international community to gross, systematic and ongoing violations of religious freedom in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation," the statement reads.
The Ministry emphasized that Russia, together with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), is introducing a repressive system in the occupied lands, which aims to destroy the religious diversity and spiritual identity of Ukrainians. Under the guise of "canonical order", the occupation authorities force independent communities to submit to the ROC, persecute priests, destroy churches and impose the ideology of the "Russian world".
"Representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Protestant communities, the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches, Muslim organizations, as well as those representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who do not agree with the occupation regime, suffer from repression. Criminal cases are fabricated against them, searches are conducted, threats and physical pressure are exerted," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement also reports on mass persecutions of Jehovah's Witnesses: at least 14 representatives of this community are imprisoned in Crimea. In Sevastopol, two of them were sentenced to six years in prison.
It is also noted that the Russian occupation forces are illegally detaining more than 30 religious figures.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed its gratitude to international partners for objective assessments of the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular in the field of freedom of conscience and religion.
"We call on the international community to strongly condemn the criminal actions of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, to increase pressure on the aggressor state and to intensify work on bringing to justice those involved in human rights violations and repressions against Ukrainian religious communities. We appeal to all churches, religious organizations and believers around the world, regardless of their religion and confessional affiliation, with this appeal and ask them to pay attention to the barbaric Russian persecution of ordinary people who pose no threat to anyone and only want to believe in God and pray, to have the right to freedom of conscience and religion," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.