Russia considers it cynical the lack of a proper reaction on the part of international human rights structures to the violence and persecution of believers in Ukraine. This was stated on June 14 at a meeting of the UN Security Council by the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the organization Vasily Nebenzya, whose speech was published on the website of the permanent mission.

“Against this background, the lack of a proper reaction on the part of international human rights structures to violence and persecution of believers, as well as the facts of the destruction and appropriation of objects of religious worship, looks cynical,” Nebenzya emphasized.

He recalled that the Ukrainian media is campaigning against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) with calls for a complete ban on its activities.

We are talking about the oppression of the monks of the UOC in Ukraine and attempts to seize the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and canonical churches.

In particular, at a meeting on June 13, the Economic Court of Kyiv denied the canonical UOC the right to use two churches of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Lavra lawyer Archpriest Nikita Chekman stressed that the UOC will file an appeal against the court decision in order to achieve justice and restore the violated rights of parishioners.

On May 2, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced the transfer of 16 buildings of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to the use of the national historical and cultural reserve.

The pressure of OCU supporters on the UOC intensified after the publication of a warning on March 10 on the website of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra signed by Oleksandr Rudnyk, who at that time was acting. General Director of the National Reserve «Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra», that the monks must leave the monastery before March 29. They were offered to stay in the Lavra on the condition of transferring to the schismatic OCU.