On August 27, the State Service of Ukraine on Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) decided to recognize the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (identification code according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs 21510633) as affiliated with a foreign religious organization. This affiliation is prohibited in Ukraine under Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations."
This information was reported on the DESS website.
This decision was preceded by an investigation into the existence of signs of affiliation between the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (hereinafter referred to as the KM UOC) and a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine.
The investigation uncovered evidence of affiliation between the KM UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church. This affiliation is a violation of Ukraine's Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.” In response, the DESS issued an order to the KM UOC to rectify this violation.
In a letter, Metropolitan Onufriy, the Primate of the UOC, stated his refusal to comply with the order.
As a result, since there were no grounds to conclude that the violations had been addressed, or that the order was issued in error — as outlined in part fifteen of Article 16 of the Law — the DESS recognized the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as affiliated with a foreign religious organization. This affiliation is prohibited under Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations.”
For further details, you can find the relevant order at the provided link.
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