The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which represents all major religious organizations of Ukraine - Christians, Muslims and Jews - strongly and categorically condemns the final documents of the last meeting of the so-called "World Russian People's Council", which contain attempts to morally justify Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine.
In its statements and appeals, the UCCRO has repeatedly condemned the ideology of the "Russian world," which serves as the basis for justifying Russia's aggression against Ukraine and other countries. The latest document of the WRPC not only completely repeats the narratives of this ideology, but also contains attempts to publicly justify the aggressive war against Ukraine, which it calls a "holy war." The document denies the existence of the Ukrainian people as a unique ethnos, denies the right of the Ukrainian people to their own sovereign statehood, and justifies both war crimes and acts of genocide already committed by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine and actually calls for new ones.
The WRPC was established primarily by the Russian Orthodox Church with the support of the Russian state. This organization is headed by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill Gundyaev. Leaders of many religious unions of the Russian Federation are involved in its work. The latest documents of the "WRPC" have been distributed through the official information channels of the Russian Orthodox Church. Therefore, the ROC and its leadership, as well as the leaders of other religious associations of the Russian Federation that participate in the work of the "WRPC" bear full moral responsibility for the content of these inhumane neo-Nazi documents, which completely contradict the truth, spiritual and moral precepts of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
As representatives of the religious community of Ukraine, we affirm that Russia's aggressive war against our homeland is a diabolical affair, and complicity in it on the side of the aggressor, including through public justification, is a spiritual crime.
We call on world religious leaders and organizations for interfaith and interreligious cooperation, in particular the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches, to condemn the documents of the WRPC. We also believe that the leadership of the WRPC, headed by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, should be subject to international sanctions.
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, should be subject to international sanctions.
We ask God to help Ukraine achieve victory over the Russian aggressor and establish a just peace, and we once again call on the international community to increase assistance to Ukraine.
Lord, the Great and Almighty, protect Ukraine!