Konotop mayor orders security forces to seal all UOC churches in city

Konotop mayor Artem Semenikhin said that after the signing of the decree banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city, he ordered to seize the assets of churches, and to seal and take under guard the churches themselves,” reports Telegram channel "Espreso".

Semenikhin said that there are about 10 UOC churches in Konotop.

"A big meeting is being prepared with the security forces, I gave them instructions to the police to make an inventory and seal the assets in the churches. The military should guard these facilities to prevent provocations from Moscow priests so that no Moscow priest will enter there and steal holy church utensils because it is the property of the community," he said.

The mayor further plans to hold a meeting of the townspeople and find out their affiliation with one denomination or another.

"We have freedom of religion, let the community itself decide where they will go," said the Konotop mayor, adding that Ukrainian citizens always have a choice: UOC-KP, UGCC, UAOC and OCU.

At the same time, Semenikhin invited all leaders of other localities to follow his example.

"I want to start a challenge among my fellow mayors all over Ukraine to pass the same orders," Semenikhin said and promised to do everything in his power to make the Church "disappear from Konotop".

As earlier reported, the Konotop mayor banned the UOC in the city because of a "threat to national security".

The UOJ also wrote that the head of RMA in the Sumy region, Dmitry Zhivitsky, demanded that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church be banned in the Sumy region.