Russian media intimidate with fakes about the growth of the religious intolerance in Ukraine

Russian media intimidate readers with stories about the growth of religious intolerance in Ukraine every day. They say that the persecution of believers and the burning of churches of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine are already happening so often that the United Nations was forced to intervene in the situation.

The UN allegedly officially condemned the persecution of representatives of the Russian Church and called for an end to religious violence. The religious experts,  Ihor Kozlovsky and Victor Yelensky explained live on Ukrayinske Radio why it is not so.

"In fact, no such statements were made officially at the UN level. There were also no official discussions on this issue. The event, at which Pro-Kremlin experts alleged the persecution, was held as part of an informal part, under the auspices of the Russian representative Office in the UN and the Russian Peace Foundation.

The results of such events are presented as a fact - like "the UN condemns". Religious expert Ihor Kozlovsky drew attention to the fact that to a certain extent we are talking about a non-Christian act.

"This is not just a lie, but to a certain extent - a non-Christian act. Why? The Prince of lies is Satan. And if we join in this spread of fakes, whom do we serve? We must, on the one hand, calmly look at this, but on the other hand - constantly remind you of the need for research, verification," he says.

Religious scholar, doctor of philosophy Viktor Yelenskiy believes that this information is distributed to discredit Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but also to create a "smoke screen".

"The Kremlin has ordered the Moscow Patriarchate to create a "smoke screen" that should hide the egregious persecution of representatives of religious minorities in this country. This reached such a large scale that did not exist in Soviet times - even then, Jehovah's Witnesses were not banned, as it is theh case now, they did not receive six years in prison," says Viktor Yelensky.