NSDC Head: We will not tolerate the UOC kissing Putin on his forehead

Head of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov. Photo: rbc.ru

In an interview with Radio Svoboda, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said that despite the fact that the UOC has a large flock in Ukraine, the state will not turn a blind eye to the fact that they “kiss Putin on the forehead and cross themselves before Gundiayev.”

“Why do you want us to connive at the fact that they kiss Putin on the forehead and cross themselves before Gundiayev? We won't tolerate it. Moreover, I can say that huge mistakes have been made since 1991, when this particular institution was given a generous amount of land. This happened almost all over Ukraine. It's not their property. This is the property of a religious community, which is located on the territory of a particular community. And it is the community that should determine what kind of church it should be, with whom to pray, how those rituals and those things that are not prohibited by our legislation should be practiced,” he said.

According to Danilov, if an organization has ties with an aggressor country, it has no right to work on the territory of Ukraine.

“Make a re-registration, disavow the aggressor country, anathematize Putin, Gundiayev, and all these bastards who have brought the war to our territory today – and you may continue your work. Nobody, I emphasize again, has the right to close churches, institutions. If according to your statutory documents, you are considered to have a ‘godmother’ in Moscow, this does not suit us at all. As for canonicity or other things, whether you have a tomos or other documents, this is another matter, this is another component of this whole procedure,” added the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

Danilov said he was anticipating to see the text of a bill to ban the activities in Ukraine of religious organizations headquartered in Russia on February 1.

As the UOJ previously reported, Danilov said that the UOC must live according to our laws, and there will be no questions for it.

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