Russia continues to pursue the policy of the occupying state to oust the Ukrainian Church from the annexed Crimea.
The Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, headed by Anton Koynevych, condemned this decision and believes that it is the embodiment of the policy of the occupying state to oust the Ukrainian Church from the temporarily occupied Crimean Peninsula. This was reported on August 5 by Ukrayinska Pravda.
“Russia wants to see no Ukrainian Church in Crimea, an important center of Ukrainian unity. The Representative Office will take all possible measures and actions to protect the Ukrainian Church,” the Representative Office stressed.
“In essence, this means the complete elimination of the Ukrainian Orthodox community in Crimea. This is not technically genocide, but it borders on it. Let me remind you that the Crimean courts decided to evict from the temple in the summer of 2019. At the same time, the Russian authorities are trying to demolish the chapel in Yevpatoria. A week before, Archbishop Klyment received the order from the bailiffs to dismantle the chapel.”
On August 4, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to review the decision of the occupation courts in Crimea to evict the community of the Orthodox branch of Ukraine from the Cathedral of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr and Olha in Simferopol.