President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in his video message, he mentioned an event that happened 31 years ago - on December 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted for the country’s independence in a referendum.
“People have confirmed the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine freely and legally. It was a real referendum, not some kind of imitation. It was a fair referendum, and therefore recognized by the world. And it was important that not just politicians, but people put an end to the history of the empire, which was built on the denial of the will of the people. Who killed, trying to perpetuate the denial of the will of the people, but which the people overthrew anyway. And just your will. Since that day in 1991, Ukrainians have endured many attempts to turn the dot into three dots or a semicolon. We saw many figures who could not calm down that the empire was toppled”, - he said and added that even now the Ukrainians are defending the country from such “comrades” who wanted to celebrate the centenary of the empire this year instead of the next anniversary of freedom.
According to him, such attempts will lead nowhere - the desire of Ukrainians to live freely, which was expressed on August 24 and confirmed on December 1, cannot be broken.
“Ukrainians will never again be the pebbles of some empires. We have already gained this in the struggle and we will ensure full independence for our state. We will ensure, in particular, spiritual independence. We will never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul.”he added.
The President spoke about the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, which considered numerous facts of ties between individual religious circles in Ukraine and the aggressor state. The Security Council instructed the government to submit to the Verkhovna Rada a bill on the impossibility of activities in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation. And the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience was instructed to ensure the conduct of a religious examination of the Charter on the management of the UOC for the presence of a church-canonical connection with the Moscow Patriarchate and, if necessary, take the measures provided for by law.
According to Zelensky, the presence of legal grounds and compliance with the conditions for the use of property by religious organizations located on the territory of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve will be checked.
“All bodies whose competence includes issues in the field of ensuring national security should intensify measures to identify and counter the subversive activities of Russian special services in the religious environment of Ukraine. And apply personal sanctions - the names will be made public soon. We need to raise the status and strengthen the capabilities of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience. This structure will be reformed, which will allow it to really protect the rights and legitimate interests of Ukrainians and the state. With these and other decisions, we guarantee spiritual independence for Ukraine.”he added.
According to Zelensky, in 1991 our state took the legal and democratic path: “This is the path we will continue to take. Only legal steps. Weighted decisions. And national interests.
Recall that in recent days, the Ukrainian special service and law enforcement officers have been carrying out security measures on the territory of churches belonging to the UOC-MP. The searches took place, in particular, in the Mukachevo diocese, in the monasteries of the Rivne region, as well as in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Photo of the Office of the President
Source: Fakty
