MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax) - Ukraine's Orthodox public opinion have accused the Ukrainian authorities of discrimination against Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II and declared about the pressure on those believers who intended to come to Kyiv from the other Ukrainian towns to celebrate the 1020th anniversary of the Adoption of Christianity by Ancient Russia.

"The Ukrainian authorities have been seeking to humiliate patriarch Alexy II and to degrade the invaluable significance of the Russian Orthodox Church for the predominant majority of the Orthodox believers of Ukraine," the head of the Ukrainian public organization "Orthodox Choice" Yuri Yegorov told www.interfax-religion.ru on Thursday.

Ukraine has been waging a "real information blockade seeking to make insignificant the visit" of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II to Kyiv, he said.

The discrimination in relation to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II can be seen in the advertising on the eve of the celebration of the anniversary of the adoption of Christianity by Ancient Russia in Kyiv. He said that two weeks ago, there appeared billboards depicting Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in the streets and squares of Kyiv. Only from July 23, there began to appear "single small billboards" depicting Alexy II.

Yegorov said that the Ukrainian Orthodox public opinion "views this as an insult of all believers of the Russian Orthodox Church and primarily its patriarch."

The street where the Orthodox sanctuary, Kyiv-Pecherskaya Lavra Church, is located was recently renamed, and called after Hetman Ivan Mazepa that had been anathematized for grave sins, and this fact is also seen as an insult to all believers of the Russian Orthodox Church, he said.

He said he was getting information from various areas of Ukraine on a pressure on the representatives of the Orthodox public opinion who intend to participate in celebrations in Kyiv.