DISINFO: Kyiv persecutes Ukrainian Orthodox Church
SUMMARY
Since last autumn, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been under pressure from the authorities in Kyiv, with searches of its temples and monasteries across the country looking for evidence of alleged anti-Ukrainian activities, amid church seizures and accusations of treason against many of its leaders for an alleged pro-Russian stance.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Ukraine as an enemy of the Orthodox Church.
There is no “persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. In late 2022, the Ukrainian government announced a law banning churches affiliated with Russia, following a series of investigations related to parishes that Kyiv says could be taking orders from Moscow. This mostly affected the activities of the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate [UOC-MP] in Ukraine, which is affiliated with Russia and considered a key influence tool for Moscow in the country, and whose leadership has voiced its full support for the Russian war on Ukraine including siding closely with Putin, blessing soldiers and Russian guns and offering the church's support.
Spravdi, the Centre for Strategic Communications under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, has explained why the government decided to ban the activities of UOC-MP. Spravdi found that in the churches of the UOC-MP, Russian propaganda is being spread; activities of enemy secret services are being covered and that Russian agents are being recruited.
The Ukrainian government does not plan to ban Orthodoxy. The parishes of the UOC-MP are free to switch to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which far from being a “pseudo-religious institution”, as this disinformation story claims, received the tomos of autocephaly in January 2019. It is also the most popular Orthodox church in Ukraine: 78% of orthodox believers claim their allegiance to the church.
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