Disinformation campaigns about the Russian invasion of Ukraine have unfortunately been ongoing for years.<\/p>\n
The hoax that Orthodox Christianity has been banned in Ukraine<\/big><\/p>\n In recent months, there have been many hoaxes about Ukraine and Orthodox Christianity<\/strong> on social media. As you may recall, I already responded to those hoaxes here in August<\/a>, which claimed that Zelensky had banned Christianity and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, something that is completely false. Despite this, the lies continue to circulate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Yesterday, Rub\u00e9n Gisbert (who in recent years has been singled out by several Spanish media outlets for spreading pro-Russian disinformation: here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>, although in 2022 he claimed that he does not defend Russia<\/a>), published a hoax on Twitter<\/a> in which he states:<\/p>\n Russian soldiers restore a Christian Cross as they pass through territory abandoned by the Zelensky regime, which has banned the Orthodox religion and destroyed temples and religious symbols<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The text is accompanied by a video of Russian soldiers raising an Orthodox cross<\/strong>. Gisbert does not indicate the source of the video, so I will: The video was posted on March 25 by Russian internet user Max Divnich<\/a>, without indicating where it was recorded. The next day it was posted by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov<\/a> on Telegram on March 26, claiming it was recorded in Kursk. Solovyov's post was in turn shared by Maria Zakharova, director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n Following Gisbert's post, pro-Russian internet users have been re-spreading the video with messages in Spanish<\/strong>. This morning, the Twitter account Herqles<\/strong> (which spreads a hoax a month ago<\/a> discrediting a demonstration in support of Ukraine) published<\/a> the same video as Gisbert, stating the following:<\/p>\n Russian soldiers restore an Orthodox Christian Cross while on territory abandoned by the Zelensky regime, which has banned the religion and destroyed temples and religious symbols.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Truth versus the propagandists' lies<\/big><\/p>\n As I pointed out in August, the Orthodox Christian religion has not been banned in Ukraine<\/a>. To claim this is a blatant deception. What the Ukrainian Parliament did do was pass a law (see PDF)<\/a> to prevent \"the activity of religious organizations that are affiliated with centers of influence of a religious organization (association), the center of management (administration) of which is located outside Ukraine in a state carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine\"<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is obviously a reference to the Moscow-dependent Russian Orthodox Church<\/strong>. It should be remembered that the current leader of that church, Kirill, has been openly supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine<\/a>. The activity of that church in Ukrainian territory is as abnormal as authorizing the activity in Spain of Islamic clerics dependent on Morocco after a Moroccan invasion of Spain.<\/p>\n Recall that the vast majority of Ukrainians (72%) are Orthodox Christians<\/a>. Although many of them were followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (IOU-PM), this denomination has been losing followers. On May 27, 2022, the IOU-PM declared its \"complete autonomy and independence\"<\/a>. It should be noted that, to this day, the IOU-PM remains active<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition, there are other Orthodox churches in Ukraine. After the IOU-PM, the main one is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (IOU)<\/strong>, an independent Orthodox church headed by Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Kyiv and All Ukraine. In addition, other Orthodox churches are active in Ukraine: the Ruthenian Orthodox Church<\/strong>, the Romanian Orthodox Church<\/strong>, the Canonical Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church<\/strong> (derived from the Polish Orthodox Church), the True Orthodox Church<\/strong> (emerged in 1920), the Armenian Apostolic Church<\/strong>, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Old Rite<\/strong> (based in Moscow but separate from the Russian Orthodox Church), and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia<\/strong> (dependent on the Russian Orthodox Church).<\/p>\n Russia has attacked 596 Christian buildings in Ukraine.<\/big><\/p>\n Furthermore, Russian propagandists' selective focus on Christian churches<\/strong> is striking, given that they never mention any of the Russian attacks against them. Since the beginning of the invasion, Russia has largely attacked Ukrainian Christian buildings<\/strong>, as well as religious centers and representatives of various denominations. I will cite just a few details of these attacks against Christian centers and clerics:<\/strong><\/p>\n It must be said that these attacks should not be interpreted exclusively as the invaders' hatred of religion. Russia shows the same contempt for Christian churches in Ukraine as it does for hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities, museums, and residential buildings<\/strong>, to name a few examples of civilian targets attacked by the Russians. <\/p>\n Herqles' message expressing his opinion on Ukraine<\/big><\/p>\n Do you know how many posts Gisbert and Herqles have dedicated to these attacks? Not one.<\/strong> In three years, they haven't posted a single message on Twitter about the hundreds of Russian attacks on Christian churches. It's probably because they didn't have time. However, on February 23, Herqles posted a revealing commentary on Ukraine, stating the following:<\/a><\/p>\n No one outside the decadent globalist sphere has the slightest interest in Ukraine's survival anymore<\/strong>; for the US, it is an obstacle, for Russia, a separatist region, and for China, it is indifferent in terms of territorial integrity.<\/p>\n Ukraine is also an obstacle for European patriotic forces<\/strong>, aware that without the Ukrainian problem, a greater alliance in Europe would be possible. These patriotic forces, moreover, aim to carry out a European reconstruction on all fronts, incompatible with making large expenditures or efforts in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n said a few days ago that Ukraine had simply chosen its allies poorly.<\/strong> This is a fair reflection, considering that the greatest supporters of the Ukrainian cause have been the Biden administration, Soros, and Ursula von der Leyen's commission. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Russia's allies are the dictatorships of North Korea, Iran, Communist China, Cuba, and Venezuela<\/strong> (the first four appear on the list of the 50 countries that persecute Christians the most<\/a>), but this internet user doesn't say a word about these allies. Just as he does about the Russian attacks on Christian churches in Ukraine.<\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n
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