The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council decided on 1 December 2022 to “prohibit religious organizations affiliated with Russian Federation centers of influence from operating in Ukraine”, announced by President Zelensky while signing Decree 820/2022.

The “integral nationalists” had already outlawed the Orthodox Church during the Second World War.

The “State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience” (nice name for a racist concept!) was tasked with closing down the buildings of the Orthodox Church under the Patriarchate of Moscow. A dozen popes have been arrested so far.

The Ukrainian Presidency considers that it is respecting freedom of conscience in compliance with the standards of the Council of Europe, now that the Russian Federation is no longer a member.

Two weeks ago, the Ukrainian security services (SBU) stormed an Orthodox monastery in Kiev and arrested a priest who had dared to name the “Motherland” of Ukraine, i.e. Russia.

On Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. (son of the former president) marveled at Ukraine’s conception of freedom and proposed sending another 100 billion dollars without verifying how it will be used.

Arriving in Kiev on 3 December, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland exclaimed: “Today you are fighting not only for your freedom, but also for democratic values.”