US Encourages Poroshenko's, Constantinople's Steps Toward Church Schism In Ukraine -Moscow

The United States encourages church schism in Ukraine by supporting related steps by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2018) The United States encourages church schism in Ukraine by supporting related steps by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback announced that the United States could introduce new sanctions against Russia over its alleged violation of religious freedoms.

"He has long been actively meddling into Ukrainian church affairs and promoting autocephaly, which millions of believers oppose, via encouraging schism-aimed steps by Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople," Zakharova said, commenting on Brownback's claims.

Also on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that in late November the United States had put China, Iran, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia, among other states, onto the list of countries violating religious freedoms, while Russia had been put onto the "special watch" list.