The representative of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Bishop Gideon (Charon), who was not allowed to speak at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation with the church in Ukraine on the initiative of the United Kingdom, called the incident "blatant lawlessness" and a violation of UN principles.
"The fact that I was not allowed to attend the UN meeting is a blatant lawlessness, first of all on the part of the United Nations itself, because it has its own laws, which the British chairman violated today, deciding to deprive me of my word. It was a complete lawlessness, a violation of the UN Charter itself. They apparently have fear - fear of the truth," Bishop Gideon, who was previously the vicar of the Tithe Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kiev, told TASS.
According to him, during his speech, he intended to voice concrete facts testifying to the intensification of persecution of the canonical Church in Ukraine, its clergy and believers. "Not to let a person say the word is first of all to sign their helplessness, in fact they were scared," he added.
The first deputy permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, for his part, called the British chairmanship of the UN Security Council in July a disgrace, pointing out that the British permanent mission is trying to impose its own agenda on the Security Council. According to him, the United Kingdom has demonstrated several times that "the interests of NATO and Western countries are more important to them than their role as chairman." Polyansky noted that Russia always follows the principle of neutrality when acting as chairman of the UN Security Council.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council held two meetings on Ukraine. The first was convened at the initiative of the Russian Federation and was dedicated to the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The presiding Great Britain blocked the speech of the Bishop of the UOC at rest Gideon. The second meeting was initiated by Ukraine and was devoted to the alleged "destruction of Odessa's cultural heritage monuments by Russia." Representatives of Russia refused to speak at it.
According to the materials of TASS