The draft law "On Military Chaplaincy" is being prepared for consideration in the second reading and will soon be put to a vote by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
This draft law was discussed during a regular meeting of the inter-factional deputy association "Values. Dignity. Family" and representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which was held on November 1, 2021, under the chairmanship of UBS President Hryhoriy Komendant. This is reported by the Institute of Religious Freedom.
Parliamentarians said that the process of approving amendments is being completed, and the law should be adopted soon.
In addition, religious figures raised practical issues of long-term contracts for the supply of natural gas to religious communities at a fixed price. Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Yevhen Vladimirov, as well as representatives of NJSC Naftogaz and the gas supply company Naftogaz trading, took part in the discussion of the issue of raising the price of natural gas and electricity for religious organizations.
The meeting participants also focused attention on the registration procedure for religious communities in the context of administrative reform, which provides for changing the structure of local state authorities. The participants agreed to devote a separate meeting to this issue.
During the meeting, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations was represented by the chairman of the AUCCRO, President of the Ukrainian Bible Society Hryhoriy Komandant, Bishop of the Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Markos Hovhannisyan and representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches, the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church, the Ukrainian Evangelical Church, the Ukrainian Evangelical Church, the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine and the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine.
Inter-factional deputy association "Values. Dignity. Family" was represented by its co-chairman Svyatoslav Yurash ("Servant of the People") and MPs Roman Kostenko and Andrey Sharaskin (Golos).
The meeting was also attended by Oleksandr Zayets, chairman of the board of the Institute of Religious Freedom, and Mykola Kuleba, director of human rights protection at iDemocracy NGO.
It's already the ninth meeting within the dialogue between the AUCCRO and «Values. Dignity. Family", which began at the end of 2020.