Newspaper of Vitebsk Diocese praises DPR and LPR militants

The newspaper issues an interview with Russian mercenaries and praises the participation of Orthodox believers in war with Ukraine.

The newspaper Nashe Provoslavie is popular among Orthodox churches of Vitsebsk region. This is the official newspaper of the Diocese of Vitebsk of the BOC. The circulation is 1000 copies. Old issues are being distributed in churches for free, Nasha Niva reports.

Aliaksandr Halavan, the activist of Young Belarus campaign, got acquainted with its content. It issues the interview with Russian mercenaries, Militants from DPR and LPR, and praises the participation of Orthodox believers in a military conflict in Ukraine", Halavan says.

One of the March issues launched the material titled "The West cannot put up with Russia's strengthening".

It is a conversation with Margarita Seidler, a citizen of Germany, who is fighting for militants of Novorossiya. Seidler confesses that she "adopted Orthodoxy and joined ranks of the militia in Slavyansk, and then in Donetsk" and now fights out there "for the Orthodox faith".

"Mercenaries" are presented as "Orthodox fighters: … they are the bravest... they cover their comrade, and ready to "sacrifice their souls for their friends" as it is written in Scripture." Margarita Seidler calls a sin the non-participation in the military conflict in Ukraine.

The activist wonders whether these calls and articles are subject to Article 123 (Propaganda of war) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.

By the way, it is noteworthy that Andrei Gerashchenko, the activist of a Russian movement, is the chief editor of the Nashe Provoslavie newspaper. Earlier, he worked as the head of the Department for Youth Affairs in the administration of Aktsiabrski district of Vitebsk.

In his numerous works he denied the existence of the Belarusian nation and the state. After some time he was dismissed from the position .