Published October 19,2023
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Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday superior laws that will ban the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), as Kyiv vows to chop ties with establishments it considers aligned with Russia.
Rows over Moscow’s ties to the Church have escalated because the struggle started.
Ukrainian safety companies final yr raided the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery over its ties to the Moscow Patriarchate.
“Draft law number 8371 on the prohibition of religious organisations associated with the Russian Federation was adopted in the first reading,” lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak mentioned, including that 267 deputies voted for the invoice.
Bills should usually cross two readings within the Verkhovna Rada — the Ukrainian parliament — earlier than they are often signed into regulation by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Lawmaker Inna Sovsun praised the vote as “extremely important”.
“So far, this is only the first reading but it is still a historic decision,” she mentioned on social media.
“In order to defeat the aggressor, we need to think asymmetrically and leave no room for Russia to harm us,” she added.
The UOC voiced disappointment on the proposed ban, saying it violated of the European Convention on Human Rights, which ensures freedom of faith.
“Undoubtedly, the adoption of this draft law will indicate that human rights and freedoms, for which our state is also fighting, are losing their meaning,” it mentioned.
The proposed ban has been controversial in Ukraine, the place some parishioners nonetheless attend church buildings linked to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which formally broke ties with its Russian counterpart final May, had been accused by some lawmakers of collaborating with Russian clergymen.
A ballot in June 2023 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology discovered two-thirds of Ukrainians supported an outright ban on the UOC.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion, some church buildings switched their allegiance to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is impartial of Moscow.
Russia has strongly criticised what it sees as persecution of Orthodox believers in Ukraine.
The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has repeatedly expressed assist for the invasion and has instructed believers that Putin’s reign over Russia was mandated by god.
Source: www.anews.com.tr