Churches in Eastern Ukraine Seized by Armed Militants

On Monday, June 16th two Protestant churches in the town of Gorlovka in Eastern Ukraine were broken into and vandalized by armed separatists, who also threatened church members. 

After forcing their way into Next Generation Church they destroyed the offices, forbade further worship services to be held in the church, and declared that they would find and destroy all other such churches.

That same day armed men disrupted a service in Word of Life Church. They claimed the church as their property and declared that there would be no more Protestant churches in Gorlovka.

This brings the total number of churches seized by separatists to three, as Church of Christ was seized by militants in May. 

Additionally, on Tuesday, June 17th armed militants seized a church-run rehabilitation center in Donetsk. Twenty seven people undergoing rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction, along with two staff members were taken hostage and were held in the center's basement overnight before being released. 

TERRORISTS KIDNAP FOUR CHRISTIANS IN SLAVYANSK AND FIRE WEAPONRY FROM INSIDE THE PROTESTANT CHURCH

On Sunday, June 8, 2014, during a festive service in honor of Trinity Sunday, pro-Russian separatists kidnapped parishioners of the Transfiguration Church in the embattled city of Slavyansk located in the Donetsk region. This was the news reported via Twitter by fellow parishioner, Tatyana Lysenko. 

"Ruvim Pavenko, Albert Pavenko, Victor Brodarsky, and Vova Velichko – these brothers were just kidnapped directly from the service in Transfiguration Church and taken to the former offices of the Security Service of Ukraine in Slavyansk,” says the report.

According to a report by Slavyansk Pastor Pyotr Dudnik directly from the area of the Glad Tidings Church, the separatists are using “heavy artillery.”

Earlier on, it was reported that a NONA self-propelled artillery system was stationed at the specified address.

The militants who have taken over Slavyansk and are establishing their weapon emplacements around the city are also utilizing the premises of the Orthodox Churches.

“Blindfolded and bound parishioners are being used as human shields,” wrote Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on June 7.

“The security forces are not conducting military operations in the residential neighborhoods of Slavyansk,” says an ATO speaker.

Under the framework of the antiterrorist operation, the military does not use weapons against the civilian population. This was a statement made on June 8, 2014 by ATO Vladislav Seleznev, the head of the press center, on the TV channel “112 Ukraine."

"Regardless of what’s going on, the military does not use weapons against the civilian population, and does not fire on residential areas and places with large concentrations of people. We  only target militants; we move against their roadblocks and overcome them using precision strikes," he said.

Regarding the Merchant House cafe in Ukraine that was completely demolished by artillery file, according to information provided by the security forces, it was being used as a permanent base by pro-Russian terrorists . 

As reported earlier, today, on June 8, the militants are firing from residential districts in the city in an attempt to provoke return fire on civilian targets.

Moreover, the militants are deliberately shelling the city from the outskirts of town only to then accuse the Ukrainian authorities of inflicting civilian casualties.

KAZAKHSTAN: Drink vodka – yes, watch football – yes, praying – no

The leader of a Baptist congregation in Semey (Semipalatinsk) in East Kazakhstan Region, which chooses to meet for worship without state permission, began a ten-day prison term on 27 May. Viktor Kandyba had refused to pay a fine handed down in 2013 for leading the church. Prosecutor's Office official Bolzhan Botbayev, who brought both cases to court, struggled to explain why Kandyba has the right to gather friends to drink vodka or watch football on television but not to meet for worship. "The law says they must have registration before they are allowed to meet," he insisted to Forum 18. Kandyba is the eighth known Baptist to be given a short-term prison sentence in 2014 for refusing to pay fines for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief. "I can't agree that these imprisonments are a violation of human rights," Rustam Kypshakbayev of the government's Ombudsperson's Office for Human Rights told Forum 18. Those who lead unregistered religious communities will face up to 60 days' imprisonment if the new Criminal Code now in the Senate is adopted in current form.

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Pro-Russian Cossacks Seize Ukrainian Church In Crimea

On June 1, a group of local residents and armed men in Russian Cossack uniforms seized a Ukrainian Orthodox church in the village of Perevalne in Crimea. Priest Ivan Katkalo told RFE/RL the attackers threatened to kill him if he refused to leave the village. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)

Near Simferopol “Cossacks” And Police Raid Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Details have emerged about an attack on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC KP) outside a military unit in Perevalne near Simferopol.

At 8 in the morning, in the township of Perevalne, Crimea, a group of what appeared to be armed thugs dressed as Cossacks stormed the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God of the UOC KP, breaking down the door.

Near Simferopol “Cossacks” and police raid the  the Ukranian Orthodox Church

The news of the attack was reported by the press service of the Kiev Patriarchate.

The attackers demolished the interior of the church and occupied it. They would not allow the rector, Archpriest Ivan Katkalo to administer the service.

According to the Patriarchate, when the priest arrived, thugs shouting abuse fell upon him, and smashed apart his car..

Parishioners attempted to defend their priest, and were also injured. Particularly egregious, a pregnant woman and the daughter of Father Ivan who suffers from cerebral palsy were beaten up.

The Russian police in Crimea initially made no response to the appeals for help, said the Press Center.

It took the police three hours to show up at the scene, and when they did, they sided with the attackers.

Like the “Cossack” thugs, the police explained their actions by saying that the “Kiev Patriarchate conducts anti-Russian activities, and therefore does not belong in Russian Crimea.”

The Russian authorities in Crimea have still not responded to the appeal of Metropolitan Kliment, the local head of the UOC KP.

The belief in the Kiev Patriarchate is that the attack on the Intercession Church was planned in advance.

The Press Center reported that on Saturday evening, the day preceding the attack, a priest from the Moscow Patriarchate approached Father Ivan Katkalo at his home and demanded that he voluntarily “liberate” the church, saying “these are your final days in Crimea.”

The press center of the Kiev Patriarchate expressed its strong protest against the violent acts perpetrated against the church, the clergy and faithful of the Kiev Patriarchate in Perevalne, Crimea.

“We demand that the Russian authorities in Crimea put an end to the harassment of Ukrainian Orthodox believers, and that officers and police who aided and abetted the attackers be brought to justice,” said the Patriarchate.

Gunmen showed up at the church along with pensioners carrying placards. They are looking for Right Sector members. 

Gunmen showed up at the church along with pensioners carrying placards. They are looking for Right Sector members

Representatives of the so-called “Crimean self-defense force” showed up outside the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC KP) in Perevalne, a village near Simferopol.

This news comes to us from Крым.Реалии. [ru.krymr.com]

Members of this paramilitary unit armed with machine guns came at the request of the “Cossacks” who had previously attached the church and smashed the cars of the believers.

Armed men in military attire reported that they were there to “prevent provocations by activists in the Right Sector” They were accompanied by a few elderly people carrying placards protesting the presence of the parishioners of the UOC KP. People in camouflage are prohibiting those who attempt to take photos of events underway, threatening journalists.