Russian Foreign Ministry draws CoE officer’s attention to deteriorating believers’ rights in Ukraine
Moscow, March 23, Russian Foreign Ministry Ombudsman for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov, has criticized the religious rights situation in Ukraine, at a meeting with the Council of Europe’s Director General of Democracy Snezana Samardzic-Markovic, as the website Interfax-Religion reports.
“He pointed out systematic flagrant violations of freedom of religion by means of consistent seizures of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which sometimes happen with the direct support of local authorities and law enforcement agencies, and killings of Orthodox priests,” says a report published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website on Wednesday, after the meeting held on March 21.
Samardzic-Markovic agreed it was necessary to keep the problem in the focus of the Council of Europe’s attention, the ministry said.