DOLGOV: MOSCOW CALLS WEST TO ACT ON KIEV BECAUSE OF SEIZURE OF CHURCHES
Moscow has called the countries of the West to bring influence to bear on Kiev because of the seizure of churches in Ukraine, the commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian federation, Konstantin Dolgov, told RIA Novosti.
It was earlier reported that there was a conflict of parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate and the Kiev patriarchate over the church of the Dormition near Rovno, in which about 400 persons participated. According to eyewitnesses, representatives of the UPTsKP, with the support of the extremist organization Right Sector, that is banned in Russia, committed an attack upon parishioners of the Dormition church, demanding to transfer the church to their jurisdiction. Eyewitnesses also maintained that they did not admit believers into the church and beat them with sticks and iron bars, and they threw Molotov cocktails and sprayed pepper gas. In their turn, the police said that no report had been registered by victims.
"It causes the most serious consternation that there has been no response to this situation on the part of western countries, the USA and European Union, who very often speak about protecting freedom of conscience and freedom of religious confession. There has been no clear response either from the USA or from the EU. Unfortunately there has not been an adequate reaction from the OSCE. Despite our calls for a reaction to this situation, the OSCE still has not adequately reacted nor given this problem the necessary attention," Dolgov said.
He said "the West's double standards in the sphere of human rights and the sphere of the rule of law have again been confirmed by the example of this situation."
"This situation is absolutely unacceptable. We again call everyone who has influence upon Kiev, including western countries, to urge the Ukrainian authorities to stop indulging the radicals and give pertinent instructions to law enforcement agencies to intervene in the situation and put an end to these illegal actions. So far this has not happened, but we continue to attentively monitor the situation," the diplomat concluded. (tr. by PDS, posted 31 December 2015)
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