MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the Ukrainian government for tampering with religious affairs, saying Russia will never interfere with the Ukrainian Christian Orthodox Church.
"Russia is not going to interfere with religious processes, especially in another country. But we see how dangerous such experiments and blatant meddling by a state in religion can be for the global Orthodox Christianity," Putin told Serbian newspapers in an interview out Wednesday.
He described as a political project the creation of a new Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which was finalized this month in a decree on its independence signed by the Istanbul-based ecumenical patriarch.
"The new Church structure is a mere political project, a secular project. Its main aim is to divide the people of Russia and Ukraine and stoke both ethnic and sectarian tension," Putin said.
The Russian president warned the Ukrainian government against trying to force Christian Orthodox believers into the new Church, an attempt that could lead to "serious consequences."
