Ukraine is home to a variety of faiths. But Russia, which has little tolerance for different religious streams, has exported its worst practices to the occupied territories of Ukraine - kidnapping, taking hostages, committing violence against civilians, and suppressing Ukrainian culture and language.
"The occupation authorities, acting on orders from the Kremlin, are particularly brutal toward Protestant Christians and institutions, often portraying them as agents of the United States", the hearing was told.
According to a witness to Russian crimes, Ukrainian pastor from the city of Melitopol Mark Sergeyev, none of the 44 Protestant churches in Melitopol remained. Most of the parishioners left, while the rest went underground, as they can be sent to prison even for a daily prayer.
"They took away the church building. There was a big 12-meter cross in front of it, but they cut it down and put up a Russian flag. They use our church as a concert hall for their military concerts", the pastor said at the hearing.
Dr. Katherine Wanner, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, noted that Russian authorities in the occupied territories repress all denominations except Moscow Orthodoxy, and Protestants are perceived as "traitors to the traditional faith and the Russian nation because they left the Orthodox Church.
And according to Stephen Moore, head of the Ukraine Freedom Project, which helps Ukrainian Protestants, the Russian Orthodox Church's primary and exclusive role is as a propaganda tool for the Kremlin.