Kiev, October 18, 2014
Head of the Ukrainian government Arseniy Yatsenyuk has charged the Ministry for Internal Affairs, the Ministry for Culture as well as the Kiev municipal and regional administration to “without delay take measures to prevent the aggravation of interreligious relations, including seizure of buildings for public worship,” the decree of the Ukrainian prime minister of October 13, 2014, no. 102 reads, reports the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) with the reference to the Institute for the Religious Freedom.
Taking into account complaints that some are fomenting confrontations based on religious grounds, A. Yatsenyuk instructed the central and regional bodies of the executive authority to take steps to solve the problematic issues voiced at the meeting with the members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious organizations on October 3, the message reads.
Moreover, it has been reported that the Ministry for Culture should monitor cases of interreligious conflicts and work out a plan of action to prevent such incidents.
Another task of the Ministry is to resume the work of the Commission on rights of religious organizations at the Ukrainian Cabinet, and for this its structure should be reworked.
On October 3, at the meeting of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious organizations with the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) Alexander (Oleksandr) Turchinov and the Ukrainian Prime Minister A. Yatsenyuk, head of the Synodal Information Department of UOC Bishop Clement reported the seizure of ten churches of UOC MP.
