Yanukovych: Power not to allow using churches in political interests

The state will not allow using churches and religious organizations by some political forces in their own interests, President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych said during the solemn event, dedicated to the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Kyiv Rus, ForUm correspondent reports.

According to him, the state policy of Ukraine is aimed at consolidating all the religious groups in the country.

"An important factor in the development of civil society is the church-state relations. In Ukraine, there are about 37 thousand religious organizations of 55 religious denominations. Of course, such a religious variety causes carrying out a balanced public policy with the spiritual value of all the religious groups, strengthening of social and political stability and ensuring the constitutional rights," he said.

The President noted that Ukraine has a high level of cooperation between the different religious communities. "First of all it concerns the activities of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious organizations," Yanukovych said.

He assured that all the Ukrainian authorities are ready to actively cooperate with religious organizations. "I emphasize again, all the churches, religious organizations are equal for the state. We respect the choice of our citizens and guarantee everybody constitutional right to freedom of religion. We will not tolerate the use of churches, religious organizations by some political forces in their own narrow interests. This also refers to foreign centers, through which religious organizations sometimes try to influence the internal political situation in Ukraine," he said.