From: Human Rights in Ukraine by Halya Coynash
There is huge support in Ukraine for such a ban of a church which was always, and according to some remains closely aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate which is supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine
On 19 October, Ukrainian legislators passed in its first reading a bill, tabled by the government and envisaging a ban on religious organizations with links to Russia as the aggressor state. While there is considerable support in Ukrainian society for such a ban, some analysts, such as Dmytro Vovk, Head of the Research Centre on Rule of Law and Religion,, believe that such a ban is disproportionate. In a recent interview to KHPG, he suggested that any such law would be ineffective, and would likely create problems, rather than eliminate them.
Draft law No. 8371 proposes amendments to legislation, mainly, although not only, Ukraine’s Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations. The latter’s Article 5, for example, would be amended to include the following: “The activities are prohibited of religious organizations which are affiliated with centres of influence of religious organizations (associations) whose management is outside Ukraine in a country which is waging armed aggression against Ukraine.” Although the draft law does not name names, the particular church in question is called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [UOC] and was, at least until early 2022, linked with the Moscow Patriarchate. Although there was a reasonably large majority who voted for the bill on 19 October, the bill itself had been tabled at the beginning of the year. It is, seemingly, the mildest of at least three bills originally drafted, with one having proposed the immediate ban on UOC and another also envisaging stripping the Church of all property, as well as simplifying the transfer of congregations to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Voice of Ukraine 