Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

On March 11, 2019  Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epiphaniy met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin. Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Vasyl Bodnar, Advisor to the President of Ukraine Rostyslav Pavlenko, Head of the Department for Foreign Ukrainians and Humanitarian Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Larysa Dir, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations, Archbishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn Yevstratiy also took part in the meeting.

During the meeting, the discussions on the interaction between the Church and Ukrainian diplomacy, in particular, in countering the aggressive propaganda of the Russian Federation in the religious sphere were held. The items of cooperation in the protection of the rights of political prisoners illegally detained by Russia and the protection of freedom of religion in  the Crimea and certain areas of the Donbas, occupied by the RF,  were talked about.

Metropolitan Epiphaniy thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and personally Pavlo Anatoliyovich Klimkin for the work done during the preparation of the Tomos on autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church.

At the end of the meeting, the Primate presented memorable gifts to the guests.