Ukraine parliament approves ban on religious organisations tied to Russia News
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Ukraine parliament approves ban on religious organisations tied to Russia

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament, approved the Law on Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine (No. 8371), which bans religious organisations affiliated with Russia in Ukraine on Tuesday. Ruslan Stefanchuk, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, announced the results of the plenary session.

The bill was passed on Tuesday with a majority of 265 MPs in favour of restricting religious organisations linked with Russia and 29 MPs against it in the second reading. The vote was held in accordance with Article 73 of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the bill has been brought to President Zelenskiy for his approval.

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported that the bill will come into effect 30 days after it is publicised. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) will have nine months to break ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. Religious organisations, suspected of having ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, will be investigated by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, a state body. Only Ukrainian courts will decide the outcome.

Draft Law 8731 relies on Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which notes freedom from personal philosophy and religion and that Ukraine is separate from the Church and other religious organisations. Article 9, the freedom of thought, belief and religion, and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights, freedom of assembly and association, are also relied on.

The Ukrainian parliament justified the law by acknowledging the state’s obligation to protect the freedom of conscience and religion of its citizens, considering the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War and the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church and other religious organisations’ cooperation with Russia is a threat to Ukraine’s national and public security.

The bill was first received by the Ukrainian parliament on January 19, 2023, and initiated by Ukraine’s Prime Minister Shmyhal Denys Anatoliyovych. On May 28, 2024, Iryna Gerashchenko, journalist and politician, reported that the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church was an instrument of Russian propaganda and that Draft Law 8731 would neutralise the threat by de-Russification, strengthening national unity in Ukraine.

On October 19, 2023, the first reading was adopted with amendments in agreement with Article 116 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy supported the amendments in the bill’s final draft on August 16, 2024, and on August 17, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations released a statement establishing their support, citing the importance of “protection of freedom of religion and spiritual independence” in Ukraine. Ukraine has been working to cut down Russia’s influence since it invaded Crimea in 2014 and Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

 

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