ROC: US State Department report does not pay due attention to discrimination against UOC

The ROC is preparing an official letter to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in connection with the US State Department report on the situation with religious freedom in the world, reports RIA-Novosti.

The ROC believes that there is no infringement of religious freedom in Russia, as indicated in the report. Moreover, due attention has not been paid to the persecutions against the UOC. This was said by the head of the sector for interreligious contacts of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR), MP priest Dmitry Safonov.

"The report may not be as aggressive towards the Russian Orthodox Church as it was last year, but there are, of course, moments that cause not only questions but also a desire to refute this information, especially with regard to the situation of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Churches on the territory of Ukraine, " said Dmitry Safonov. "Not mentioned the numerous cases of arson of temples, beating up priests, and those bills that today Ukraine is preparing to take — completely discriminatory to all religious associations that do not have centres in Ukraine. They are also neglected in the report. The American report is quite subjective and obviously biased in favor of the non-canonical structure, called the UOC- Kyiv Patriarchate."