During his evening address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had discussed with the Council of Churches and Religious Organisations a bill to ban the UOC-MP in Ukraine and confirmed the Council’s support for this issue, Komersant ukrainskyi
reports
“I spoke with members of the Council of Churches and Religious Organisations. I am grateful for their support of our course towards the spiritual independence of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada has been offered a bill that can really guarantee that there will be no manipulations of the Ukrainian church from Moscow. This draft law should work,” the Head of State noted.
As reported, on 23 July, MPs blocked the rostrum in the Verkhovna Rada , demanding to consider a bill on the complete ban of the UOC-MP in Ukraine. Parliamentary sessions scheduled for next week were cancelled.
The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Consciencecalls on the Verkhovna Rada to eliminate legislative spam and other nonsense in the draft law banning the activities of religious organisations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine before the second reading.
Banning the UOC-MP
on 19 October 2023, the Verkhovna Rada supported a bill to ban the UOC-MP in the first reading. At that time, 267 MPs voted in favour. The bill in question is draft law No. 8371 on the ban on religious organisations associated with Russia.
It provides for the impossibility of religious organisations operating in Ukraine that are managed from the aggressor country. The amendments give the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience additional powers:
- ensuring the implementation of the state policy on religions and the church by conducting religious studies expertise of the activities of religious organisations to identify subordination in canonical and organisational matters with the centres of influence of a religious organisation (association) whose governing centre (management) is located outside Ukraine in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine
- issuing orders to eliminate violations identified as a result of a religious expertise within one month from the date of issuance of such an order
- filing a claim with the court to terminate the activities of a religious organisation in case of its failure to comply with the orders to eliminate violations identified as a result of religious expertise.