The Deputy head of the Synodal Department for Church and society and the media Vakhtang Kipshidze
Protection of religious freedom should not be selective, reminded the Russian Orthodox Church.
The choice of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which refused autocephaly must also protect American diplomacy as the implementation of religious freedom. This was stated by Deputy head of the Synodal Department for Church and society and the media, Vakhtang Kipshidze, in comments to “Interfax-religion”.
On the eve of the official U.S. state Department spokesman Heather Nauret reported that the US respect the choice of the supporters of the autocephaly and supports Ukraine, which “outlines his own path and makes its own decisions and associations, free from external interference”.
In this regard, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church reminded that the solution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which unites most believers in the country, also need to be protected like mechanisms in the field of the protection of religious freedom at the level of the state Department, and at the level of European and universal international organizations.
“If someone from this statement concludes that the state Department will only support seemingly “right” choice in the field of religious freedom, such a vision of religious freedom and freedom do not find any understanding neither in Ukraine, nor even in the United States” – summed V. Kipshidze.
Earlier, the special envoy of the US state Department in Ukraine Kurt Volker said that the United States is a secular nation that is based on the principle of freedom of religion and does not interfere in religious Affairs in Ukraine.