The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine responded to the appeal of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which, after a prayer stand by 20,000 believers near the Verkhovna Rada and the Office of the President, was transferred to the OP. This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

In its letter, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine directly defended the discriminatory anti-church laws and stated: “there are no legal grounds for repealing laws No. 2673-VIII and No. 2662-VIII”.

From the text of the response signed by First Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostislav Karandeev, it is clear that the department justifies the forced renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the seizure of its churches.

In particular, the message says that the so-called law on renaming was adopted in connection with “destructive and provocative manifestations on the part of representatives of certain religious organizations operating in Ukraine,” and the seizure and forcible “transfer” of churches of the canonical Church by representatives of the OCU began because of the “ideological split among the UOC”.

On June 15, 2021, the appeal was forwarded to the Office of the President. More than a million believers have signed a call to abolish the laws that discriminate against the Church.