Public organizations demand the adoption of a law to ban the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine

This was reported by MP Iryna Herashchenko.

"The Russian Orthodox Church, including its Ukrainian branch – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, is a powerful tool of 'Russian world' propaganda and a serious threat to the national security of the state. This structure, created by Stalin's order in 1943, has always been and remains an inseparable component of the Kremlin regime. Materials from dozens of criminal cases against figures of this so-called church testify to its active subversive activities against Ukraine," the activists note.

They believe that bill 8371, "on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine regarding the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine," passed in the first reading in October 2023 after nine months of delays, is intended to neutralize the threat of the Moscow Church.

Public organizations demand from the MPs:

1. From the leadership of the parliament and the ruling majority to stop blocking decolonization decisions, to bring bill No. 8173 and resolution No. 11188 to the nearest plenary week, and to adopt them in their entirety.

2. We call on each parliamentary faction and group:

to publicly support these bills and seek their urgent consideration;

in case of attempts to not include them in the agenda of the plenary session, to hold a vote at the Conciliation Council in accordance with part 10 of Article 73 of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and to inform the citizens of Ukraine as widely as possible about the results of this vote.

Since, according to the regulations, decisions of the Conciliation Council are made by the votes of factions that collectively have the majority of mandates in the parliament, the decision depends on how the representative of the "Servant of the People" faction votes.

3. We call on the people's deputies of Ukraine to vote in full for bill 8371 on the ban of the Russian Orthodox Church in the version prepared for the second reading by the relevant committee, as well as for draft resolution 11188 on the renaming of settlements and districts.

We call on the media and opinion leaders to promote maximum coverage of the situation and to convey to the Ukrainian people the position of each faction and each deputy.

Organizations:

- Movement “Space of Freedom”
- Network for the Protection of National Interests of Ukraine “ANTS”
- Initiative “Decolonization. Ukraine”
- Public Sector of the Euromaidan
- NGO “Independents”
- Youth Nationalist Congress
- Initiative for the Protection of the Rights of Ukrainian Speakers “I Tak Poymut!”
- NGO “Community of Active Youth - SAM”
- NGO “Ukrainian Association of Students”
- NGO “Ukrainian World”
- NGO “Expert Corps”
- NGO "Ukrainian Union Dream"
- NGO “Synergy PRO”
- NGO “Studio of Public Women’s Initiatives”
- International Volunteer Intelligence Community “InformNapalm”
- NGO “Our Revival - Donbas Ukraine”
- Foundation of Regional Initiatives
- NGO “Initiative Youth of Ukrainian New York”
- NGO “Your New City”
- NGO “Strong Communities”
- Public Union “Coalition 'On the Line of Contact'”
- NGO “Maidan Monitoring”
- NGO “Center for Social Transformations”
- Initiative Movement “Public Patrol”