The top representative of the Orthodox Church in Russia, Patriarch Kirill, on Thursday called for a truce in the war in Ukraine between Friday and Saturday on the occasion of the celebration of Orthodox Christmas.
«I, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, call on all parties involved in the internal conflict to maintain a ceasefire and establish a truce for Christmas from 12 noon on January 6 to midnight on January 7 so that the Orthodox population can attend Mass on Christmas Eve and the day of the birth of Jesus Christ,» he said in a message posted on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The announcement, however, has been branded as a «propagandistic element» as well as a «cynical trap» by the advisor to the Presidency of Ukraine, Mikhail Podoliak, on his profile on the social network Twitter.
«The Russian Orthodox Church is not an authority for global Orthodoxy and acts only as a ‘war propagandist’. The Russian Orthodox Church has called for the genocide of Ukrainians, encouraged mass killings and insists on even greater militarization of Russia,» Podoliak denounced.
The war in Ukraine broke out on February 24 on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who days earlier had recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, located in the Donbas region (east) and the scene of a conflict since 2014.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
