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"On Point"
MINSK, 12 November (BelTA) – The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being “literally destroyed” by the country’s leadership, with priests suffering abuse at the hands of Ukrainian security forces, former Prime Minister of Ukraine (2010-2014) Nikolai Azarov said in the latest episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – a canonical church more than a thousand years old – is being persecuted and destroyed. It is being destroyed, literally,” stated Nikolai Azarov. “That is, 2,000 churches, cathedrals, convents and monasteries have been seized. The heads of these churches are beaten during the seizures. Half of the members of the Synod are either in prison or under investigation.”
The former prime minister cited the case of the abbot of the Svyatogorsk Lavra – one of the main Orthodox shrines in Ukraine – as a prime example of the repression. He noted that the abbot, Metropolitan Arseny, has been in prison for almost two years.
“A wave of international outrage led to the court terminating his detention, as he was in pretrial detention and had not been convicted,” Nikolai Azarov said. “When he was released, an ambulance was waiting for him at the entrance to the pretrial detention center because Metropolitan Arseny needed immediate hospitalization – he has hypertension. There was also a police van parked at the entrance, from which members of the Gestapo – the SBU – emerged. They immediately handcuffed the Metropolitan, who was released by court order.”
According to the former prime minister, the trial on the new charges lasted two days. “During these two days, the Metropolitan was subjected to continuous abuse. He was given nothing to eat or drink, denied medical care, and deprived of sleep. And finally, he was given a 60-day detention period,” he said.
The former prime minister emphasized that the West is fully aware of the situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its clergy. “In America, there’s an international lawyer [Robert] Amsterdam. He gave an interview to Tucker Carlson – a renowned journalist – which was viewed by over a million people on the first day. And Amsterdam described the abuse Metropolitan Arseny and other metropolitans are subjected to. Priests are being beaten and murdered. They are being drafted into the army, sent to the front lines, where they die,” he concluded.
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