DISINFO: West foments religious conflict between Russia and Ukraine
SUMMARY
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is a spiritual one, fomented by the West. The Ukrainians have lost their ways and turned their faces towards Satan. The West’s cynicism is that it is providing Ukraine with weapons enough to only keep the conflict smouldering. The Westerners are pushing Ukraine forward, although they know that it does not have even smallest chance that it could win this war.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Ukraine’s authorities are prosecuting the Orthodox Church. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The claim is baseless. Russia attacked Ukraine on 24 February 2023 under false pretexts, including the groundless allegations that Ukraine was committing genocide in non-government-controlled areas on the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions and that its Euro-Atlantic shift was menacing Russia.
Ukraine and its population is defending itself against this armed aggression in a remarkable display of continued courage and determination. This is not a decision by NATO, Washington, the EU or others.
There is no religious persecution in Ukraine. Freedom of religion is enshrined in Article 35 of its Constitution. The Ukrainian government does not plan to ban Orthodoxy. In late 2022, the Ukrainian government announced a law banning religious organisations affiliated with Russia for their anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russia activities. This legislature mostly affected the clergy and parishes of the so-called of the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in Ukraine, considered a key influence tool for Moscow in the country. It is affiliated to the Russian Orthodox Church which has supported Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
In January 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine the Kyiv Patriarchate (OCU-KP) received the Tomos of Autocephaly from Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, which made it an internationally recognised Orthodox Church in Ukraine. On 22 February 2022, two days before the launch of Russia’s invasion, the OCU-KP head, Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Ukraine, called on Ukrainians all beliefs to unite.
Many UOC-MP parishes have switched the OCU-KP freely and without coercion since 2019.
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