The ministry responded in a statement to Kiev's recent decision to put Metropolitan Pavel (also known as Pyotr Lebed), the abbot of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the country's most illustrious Orthodox monastery, under house arrest. The top priest disputes the accusations that he incites animosity between religions and harbors pro-Russian mentality.
According to the statement, this most recent development demonstrates that Ukraine's effort to capture the Lavra "has come to a head."
The ministry asserted, however, that "it is no secret that the anti-church agenda of [Ukraine President Vladimir] Zelensky's regime is not independent."
The US has established a "perverted mechanism of direct and indirect influence on the confessional side of Kiev politics," the ministry alleged, adding that this is Washington's long-promised goal: "a split in Orthodoxy, a blow to this sphere of life."
The Commission on International Religious Freedom and the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom both encourage initiatives in this area, it was underlined.
The ministry asserted that the current conflict involving the Lavra and other churches in Ukraine "is entirely man-made and is a man-made provocation of religious hatred."
The Ukrainian president, who was chosen by Washington, is fully aware of his reliance on the US. He is once again using the Ukrainian government as nothing more than a weapon to pursue an anti-Orthodox strategy under the direction of Americans working on anti-Russian objectives.
The ministry also noted that instances of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the nation show that Kiev's religious policies affect people other than the Orthodox devout.
The Ukrainian government has cracked down severely in recent weeks on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which Kiev believes is secretly backing Russia even though it declared its independence from Moscow when the crisis began in February 2022.
The Lavra monks were ordered to leave the monastery last month as part of a campaign against the UOC, according to the authorities, who cited a purported violation of a 2013 agreement that gave the organization permission to manage the religious property. The UOC declined to follow the directive, claiming it was illegal.
Religious strife has existed in Ukraine for a long time as a result of several organizations claiming to be the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is supported by Kiev and is seen as schismatic by the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are the two primary opponents.
