Ukrainian parliament advances bill to ban Russian-linked Orthodox church

Source: Yaroslav Zheleznyk/Telegram

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament has approved a bill that outlaws Russian-linked religious organizations in Ukraine. Approved in a second reading, the bill 8371 seeks to curb Russia’s leverage in Ukraine by screening out the religious organizations linked to Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The policy received backing from 265 lawmakers with the most ‘yes’ votes provided by Zelensky’s Servant of the People and Poroshenko’s European Solidarity.

Twenty-nine deputies opposed the bill, four abstained, while 24 more didn’t show up for the vote.

In his statement on social media, Zheleznyak said that the bill that outlaws the Moscow Patriarchate will come into effect 30 days after its publication. During the 9-month grace period, Moscow-linked church communities will have time to “sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church’.

Initiated by president Volodymyr Zelensky, the bill will introduce a vetting process for religious organizations having ties to Russian “influence centers”. Should any violations be found, the organization will receive a notice to address these issues, with further decisions on its ban to be made through judicial processes.

The bill was first registered in the Verkhovna Rada in January 2023. In its first reading vote held in October 2023, the policy received votes of 267 MPs. It headed to the floor in March this year after the parliamentary committee on humanitarian and information policy fine-tuned its provisions.