Spokesman for Patriarch Kirill hopes that Ukrainians do not defend themselves against aggression and occupation

On Saturday Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the of Synodal Department for the Cooperation of the Church and Society, made a statement on Russia’s deployment of troops in Ukraine.

“The Russian peacemaking mission in Ukraine should guarantee its citizens the right to self-determination and close ties with other peoples of historical Rus,” he said, Interfax reported.

“Already in 1995 the World Russian National Council declared that the Russian people, a divided nation on its historical territory, have the right for to be unified in one state body, a right universally recognized as a norm of international politics.”

“At the same time we will hope that the mission of Russian soldiers to protect the freedom and self-determination of those people and their very life will not encounter fierce opposition that would lead to large-scale conflict. Nobody wants bloodshed and the deepening of those divisions that already exist among Orthodox people on the territory of historical Rus,” stressed the priest.