MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has called the effective dismantling of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) a most heinous crime that the West is complicit in.

"With the complicity and tacit approval of the West, a most grave crime is being committed today. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being effectively destroyed by the Kiev regime," he said, speaking at the Christmas parliamentary meetings in the Federation Council.

The patriarch also added that the Russian Church had been praying for peace in Ukraine since 2014, when "tragic events related to the coup d'etat" occurred. "Our prayer was also for a new global confrontation not to happen. However, the beginning of the conflict showed the depth of the rejection of our values, the unwillingness to find a place for peaceful coexistence and the conviction of Western and pro-Western forces in their own greatness. We have heard nothing from Western politicians except the desire to inflict a strategic and then military defeat on our homeland, which would deprive us of our sovereign development," he added.