Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew accuses Russian Orthodox Church of war crimes in Ukraine

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said on Wednesday that the Russian Orthodox Church shares responsibility for the crimes of the war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine.

Source: Bartholomew at a conference at the Lithuanian parliament in Vilnius, reports Reuters

Details: The patriarch explained that the Russian authorities use the church as an "instrument for their strategic objectives".

Quote: "The church and the state leadership in Russia cooperated in the crime of aggression and shared the responsibility for the resulting crimes, like the shocking abduction of the Ukrainian children…."

Our interreligious dialogue has to focus on ways to resist and neutralize the capacity of the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate to undermine unity and to theologically legitimize criminal behaviour."

More details: Bartholomew added that he is ready to help in Russia's post-war "spiritual regeneration".

Note: Kirill Gundyaev, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, blessed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Background: On 17 March, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is suspected of committing a war crime of illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

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