The Kremlin said that the Ukrainian authorities are damaging Christians’ mental well-being

The Kyiv regime is trying to “stupefy” Ukrainian Christians in the hope of depriving them of the ability to attend Orthodox churches.

This opinion was expressed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, author of the Vesti information service.

“They are, of course, trying to stupefy Christians, to damage people’s psyche, trying to deprive people of the opportunity to go to Orthodox churches,” he said.

In some respects, the Ukrainian leadership is managing to “brainwash its people,” but over time faith will find its way and the situation will correct itself, the Kremlin representative added.

In 2024, a law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada and signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky came into force in Ukraine, allowing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to be banned. Hundreds of UOC Orthodox churches were forcibly seized by Ukrainian schismatics from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with support from local authorities. Criminal cases were opened against UOC priests, and searches were conducted in monasteries and churches in an effort to find signs of “anti-Ukrainian activity.”

It is worth recalling that in February, employees of a territorial recruitment center in Ukraine abducted a priest of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.