The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Crimea is being forced to cease its activities under pressure from the invaders. The activity of the Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is now being effectively terminated, as there is no community of the UOC in the peninsula that has not faced persecution.
This was announced by the head of the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Igor Ponochovny, during a press conference at "Ukrinform," as reported by Detector Media.
"As for the Crimean Diocese of the UOC, unfortunately, its activity in Crimea is effectively terminated. Because every religious community has been persecuted, services have been banned, churches have been closed, property has been seized, and so on," he said. The prosecutor emphasized that Russia is attempting to establish a monopoly of the Moscow-subordinated Orthodox Church in temporarily occupied Crimea.
"It plays a key role in keeping the civilian population in Crimea and the Russian Federation in fear and submission, being used as an effective propaganda mechanism to erase Ukrainian identity in Crimea. Pseudo-religious Muslim organizations are being created to assimilate the Crimean Tatar population into the Russian world so that they work under the same narratives," Ponochovny explained.