Ukraine on Tuesday accused Moscow of trying to cover up its alleged war crimes before the United Nations Security Council, after the Russian representative to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, claimed that the Ukrainian government was preparing initiatives to «completely eliminate» the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Ukrainian representative to the United Nations, Sergei Kislitsia, said that it is «regrettable» that his Russian counterpart, Vasili Nebenzia, «is capable of abusing his permanent seat to make the Council listen to his disinformation narratives».
«Moscow is still trying to divert the Council’s attention from the real security threats stemming from its aggression,» he has stated.
Kislitsia has argued that freedom of religion is a human right, as enshrined in several documents of international bodies.
However, he denounced that during the war, which has lasted a total of eleven months, Russian troops have destroyed more than 270 churches and sacred buildings.
«Wherever Russia comes, religious freedom ends,» he said, adding that the country tortures Orthodox Christians, imprisons Muslims, forces Protestants to flee and persecutes Jehovah’s Witnesses.
All in all, the Ukrainian representative criticized that the Security Council «should be used to address real threats to international peace and security, threats that claim the lives of innocent people all over Ukraine».
Earlier, Nebenzia criticized that the Administration of Volodimir Zelensky is «preparing a series of new initiatives, the aim of which is to discriminate against the communities and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, strip it of its historical and legal name, and even eliminate it altogether.»
In this regard, he explained that Ukraine is «on the verge of a large-scale inter-confessional conflict that the history of modern Europe has not yet seen». Nebenzia specified that Kiev, with Western support, has established a plan to «undermine» the Church.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
