While Russia doesn’t seek to meddle in Ukraine’s church affairs, it reserves the right to do “everything” to defend people’s freedoms, including religious beliefs, President Vladimir Putin warned at a meeting with Orthodox clergy.

“The Russian government believes that any meddling in church affairs is off-limits. We’ve respected and will respect the independence of church life, especially in a neighboring sovereign country,” Putin said on Thursday, while meeting heads of several Orthodox churches in Moscow.

Yet we reserve the right to react and do everything to protect human rights, including the freedom of worship.

The ongoing schism in Ukraine has “nothing to do with the faith,” Putin stated, as it solely serves the interests of politicians and sows only “hatred and intolerance.”

“A blatant interference into the church life is being carried out, as if its initiators have learned from the atheists of the past century, who have expelled the faithful from the temples, attacked and prosecuted the clergy,” the president said.

Source: rt