Patriarch Kirill says Ukrainian Orthodox Church 'used as tool for inciting Russian-Ukrainian enmity'

Patriarch Kirill I of Russia said on Thursday that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being used as "a tool for inciting Russian-Ukrainian enmity" by the Ukrainian authorities and their "foreign patrons."

Speaking at the Christmas parliamentary meetings in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, the patriarch said attacks on the church are carried out because of its importance in possible reconciliation of the Russian and Ukrainian people.

He regretted the role of the patriarch in Istanbul in the split of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2018, and called the crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church "part of a global external order."

"Raids are carried out in dioceses, monasteries, parishes, criminal cases are brought against the clergy and believers on far-fetched pretexts, which are also discredited in the media.

"The most important Orthodox shrines for our peoples are taken away and desecrated. Every day calls are being made stronger and stronger to completely ban the activities of the canonical Orthodox Church. All this can be regarded as part of a global external order for the destruction of canonical Orthodoxy within a single country -- Ukraine," he said.

Patriarch Kirill lamented that human rights organizations ignore what is happening in Ukraine, noting that such a behavior reveals their "political bias."

He said the Russian Orthodox Church is ready to help in restoration of the peaceful life after the war and urged to refrain from "making general judgments about everyone" who left Russia because of the "special military operation."

Last May, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church formally separated itself from Moscow Patriarch Kirill amid Russia's war on Ukraine.

But still, Ukrainian security agencies claim it has maintained close ties with Moscow, and have conducted numerous raids of the church's holy sites.