Russia today condemned Ukraine's ban on the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), calling it a "disguised attack" against Christianity and a blow to freedom of religion, Reuters reported, citing a statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by BTA.
Last week, Ukraine's parliament voted to ban a Russia-linked church that Kiev accuses of fueling Moscow's 30-month war by spreading pro-Russian propaganda and harboring spies.
"The Kiev regime, unfortunately, continues to show its essence. This is an undisguised attack on freedom of religion, an attack on the Orthodox Church as a whole and an attack on Christianity, true Christianity," Peskov told journalists.
The majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, but the faith is divided between the UOC and the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which in 2019 received from the Ecumenical Patriarchate the status of an autocephalous church.