A Ukrainian MP from the European Solidarity party has expressed doubts that Law No. 8371 on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be voted on this week. The MP accuses his colleagues from other parties of “pro-Russian views”, because of which, in his opinion, they are doing everything to postpone the legislative ban of the Church in the Verkhovna Rada. About this he told on air of the TV channel “Espresso”.

“As you know, unfortunately, in the Verkhovna Rada is not put on the agenda to vote for the law on the ban of the Russian Church. And this is due to the lobbying of pro-Russian deputies who are both in the ruling party “Servant of the People” and in the groups created on the wreckage of the former OPZZH. They are doing everything to keep this law from being considered or to delay its consideration. The fact that we did raise the issue of voting in favor of the law banning the Russian Orthodox Church is important. Unfortunately, we did not achieve that it was voted this week”, – said Mykola Knyazhytskyy.

The MP once again said that the law No. 8371 does not ban Ukrainian churches, but only “the Russian church operating on the territory of Ukraine”. The nardeputy refers to such religious organizations that recognize the supremacy of Patriarch Kirill over them.

“The law does not ban any of the Ukrainian churches. The law prohibits exactly the Russian Church, which operates on the territory of Ukraine. For example, in the occupied territories, these churches work directly with Moscow. There are also churches in the non-occupied territories that recognize the supremacy of Kirill and are part of his structure. And the law urges to break these ties and further rule. The problem is that they do not want this break, and their lobbyists in parliament are doing everything to delay this process, realizing that they will not be able to cancel it completely. In this case it’s just stalling, but nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. The time to ban the Russian Church in Ukraine has come long ago, it will definitely be banned,” – the MP added.

It is worth noting that the attitude to the law banning the UOC in the Ukrainian Parliament is far from unambiguous. Many MPs openly oppose the consideration of such openly undemocratic initiatives in the Verkhovna Rada hall. Earlier we reported that the MP of Ukraine from the parliamentary group “Revival of Ukraine” Artyom Dmytruk commented on the attempts of his colleagues to put to a vote the bill № 8371, aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The MP believes that such actions provoke a split in society and are a crime against the state and the entire Ukrainian people.