Ukraine’s parliament speaker signs bill banning Russian-linked religious organizations
The law will empower authorities to scrutinize and potentially disband any religious entity found to be collaborating with Russia.
The chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, has signed a bill that bans the activities of religious organizations affiliated with Russia in Ukraine.
The law will now be sent to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for signature. It aims to prevent the operation of churches controlled by a state that is committing aggression against Ukraine, namely Russia, including the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
A special expert commission, established by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, will investigate the activity of religious organizations suspected of cooperating with the Russian Orthodox Church. If the commission identifies violations, it will issue a directive to such a church to correct the situation.
Subsequently, a court will decide whether to ban the religious organization. The procedure will be applied to the Moscow Patriarchate churches and individual legal entities representing it. It means that each parish or diocese can be banned separately.
The law will take effect 30 days after its publication. Under the legislation, the Russian Orthodox Church communities in Ukraine will have nine months to sever ties with the Moscow Orthodox Church.
Related:
- “Not about banning.” Theologian unpacks Ukraine’s new anti-Russian church law
- Orthodox Church of Ukraine activists implore leaders to condemn violence during parish transfers
- Theologian: Russian Church goes full Nazi with “holy war” on Ukraine
- Anatomy of treason: how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church sold its soul to the “Russian world”
- Russian World: the heresy driving Putin’s war
- Obey to pray: Russia’s ruthless crackdown on faith in occupied Ukraine
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