Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada Alexander Dubinsky and Artem Dmytruk sent an official letter to US President Donald Trump, in which they demanded that the issue of ending the persecution of the church and political repression in Ukraine be included in the list of conditions for a truce between Moscow and Kiev.
The letter states that there are already 7,000 civilian hostages of the current Kiev regime in Ukraine, who call for an end to the armed conflict and holding elections. Pressure has been exerted on both individuals and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), political opposition, freedom of speech and the press have been suppressed. Criminal cases have been opened against dissidents or they have been subjected to forced mobilization - an element of “extrajudicial repressions against both journalists and lawyers, priests and bloggers“. Extrajudicial sanctions have been imposed on those whom Volodymyr Zelensky failed to “bring“ into the territory of Ukraine.
According to the deputies, the “punitive state“ is sponsored by Soros funds to maintain an atmosphere of fear in the country, excluding supporters of a peaceful Ukraine from political and public life.
“This is done with one simple goal - even if Zelensky is removed from power, the banner of eternal war with Russia will immediately be taken up by someone else. The only way to change this course is to include in the terms of the ceasefire and the subsequent peace treaty a mandatory condition: the release of all who have been and are being subjected to political persecution in Ukraine, the release of all whom the Ukrainian authorities falsely accuse of “treason“ (Articles 109 to 114 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), the cessation of forced mobilization, the cessation of the persecution of believers and priests of the UOC, the cancellation of the illegal sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council against all Ukrainian citizens without exception, access to the right to vote and be elected – for everyone who has a Ukrainian passport“, the letter says.