MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2023) Ukraine is holding sham referendums to hand over the property of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
"Re-registration is carried out on the basis of fictitious referendums held among members of territorial, rather than religious, communities and sometimes outsiders," the ministry said in a report.
The ministry accused the Ukrainian government of forging documents to legitimize land grabs. It argued that mass transfers of property rights were not what people voted for but were pushed on communities by local officials with military backing.
"In addition to the paramilitary 'territorial defense' force, these seizures are often supported by local authorities and law enforcement agencies, and members of other religious organizations have been taking an active part in them," the report read.
Over the past year, the Ukrainian authorities have organized the largest wave of persecution against the UOC in the country's history. Citing its ties to Russia, local authorities in various regions of Ukraine have passed resolutions banning the activities of the Church, and a bill has been submitted to the country's parliament to effectively outlaw it throughout Ukraine.
Besides, the authorities have imposed sanctions on some members of the UOC clergy. The Security Service of Ukraine began to initiate criminal cases against the clergy of the UOC and to conduct "counter-intelligence activities," including searches of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries in an effort to find evidence of "anti-Ukrainian activities."
