An MP of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party, Volodymyr Vyatrovych, has said that the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience opposed the proposals of the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada to completely ban the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. About this he told on air of the channel “Espresso”.

“From the very beginning we set ourselves the right task. In the Verkhovna Rada was registered, if I’m not mistaken, four bills, which were devoted just to attempts to stop the activities of the UOC-MP on the territory of Ukraine. Unfortunately, we managed to consider only one bill in the hall, in our opinion, not the strongest of them, but it is good that we decided in the committee to try to combine these bills already between the first and second reading and to prepare important norms from other laws into it. It took a little time”, – Vyatrovych explained.

In addition, the MP said that despite a full consensus among the members of the Humanitarian Policy Committee, the new clauses of the bill were opposed by representatives of the State Service for Ethno-Politics and Freedom of Conscience.

“For example, regarding the very necessity of banning the Russian Orthodox Church – until the last day, until yesterday’s meeting. I understand that we were unable to convince our colleagues from this institution (SESC, – ed.), which should actually deal with religious issues and the protection of religious freedom. Despite this, the committee unanimously supported a whole system of amendments, which makes the bill much more effective”, – Vyatrovych added.

Vyatrovych also listed the updated clauses of Law No. 8371, which was proposed to be adopted by the Verkhovna Rada deputies in the second reading:

• Prohibition of the ROC. The law directly prohibits the existence of the ROC as an organization whose publicly proclaimed goals are aimed at the destruction of Ukraine and its inhabitants.
• Restriction of affiliated organizations. Under the restrictions also fall religious organizations that have ties with the ROC. This applies to all levels of the structure, including the UOC-MP and other organizations within the structure of the UOC-MP.
• Severing ties. Ukrainian religious organizations must sever ties with the ROC to avoid restrictions. The law does not limit the ways in which these ties may be severed.
• Transparency of ties. All ties and contacts of Ukrainian religious organizations with the ROC must become transparent and subject to monitoring by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience.
• Sanctions against propaganda. The law defines the concept of “ideology of the Russian world” and provides for the possibility of sanctions against religious organizations that propagate it.