Putin stands up for "persecuted" Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine

22.04.2021, 20:17

Lukashenka met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 22. After this meeting, Putin was asked at a briefing about relations with Ukraine. The head of the Kremlin accused the Ukrainian authorities of taking "many steps to destroy bilateral relations with Russia."

Among such steps, Putin called: "oppression of the Russian language in Ukraine," "an attempt to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church," and "infringement of the rights of Russians and Russian language speakers."

It is exactly what Putin said: "an attempt to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church."

"There were a lot of steps aimed at destroying Russian-Ukrainian relations that we can only deplore. But if President Zelensky is set to restore these relations, we can only welcome it," Putin said.

"What are we going to discuss at this meeting? If we are talking about discussing the problems of Donbas, then, first of all, the Ukrainian leadership should meet with the leaders of the "republics" and only then discuss the problems with representatives of third countries. If we are talking about bilateral relations, we will receive the president of Ukraine in Moscow at any time convenient for him," Putin said.

Tags: #Moscow #Vladimir Putin #Volodymyr Zelensky