At the next session of the Rivne city council, local deputies plan to adopt a draft decision to ask the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It is about the adoption in the second reading of the bill № 8371. This is reported in the draft decision on the website of the Rivne city Council.

“The Russian Orthodox Church, uses its religious structures in Ukraine for propaganda of the Russian imperial agency, misinforming our citizens and contributing to the destabilization of the socio-political situation. This not only threatens Ukraine’s democratic values, but also undermines national identity and security. Therefore, we, representatives of the Rivne City Council, call on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to immediately consider and adopt as a whole the bill No. 8371, which provides for a ban on religious organizations that are associated with the aggressor country,” – the draft decision reads.

It is worth noting that the first attempt to pass a decision to ban the activities of the UOC on the territory of the Rivne City Council took place back in 2022. Then the deputies failed to vote “in favor of banning the UOC”. After the failed attempt, on July 8, 2022, at a meeting of the Rivne City Council, the deputies decided to establish a moratorium on the consideration of political issues during martial law.