Verkhovna Rada may consider the law on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the end of March, - MP

The head of the committee for humanitarian and information policy, an MP of the pro-presidential party, Mykyta Poturaev, has said that draft law No 8371 aimed at banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church may be voted in the second reading at the end of March. He said this in an interview with the Ukrinform publication.

«Our committee has indeed recommended to the Parliament to adopt in the second reading the bill on banning the activities in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Federation. It is worth emphasizing that this bill is not about banning the activities of religious organizations, but about banning their ties with the aggressor country», — Poturaev said.

In addition, the MP spoke about the mechanism that, according to the law, the state will use in relation to religious organizations. According to Poturaev, the State Service for Ethno-politics and freedom of conscience will be involved for this purpose.

«It is assumed that the State Service of Ukraine for Freedom of Conscience (SESC) will conduct research regarding the ties of a religious organization with an aggressor country. SESC can cancel its decision if the religious organization will bring convincing arguments, present documents and prove that it is not affiliated, has no ties in the Russian Federation», — said the Deputy.

We would like to point out that earlier we reported that Nikita Poturaev said that the bill 8371 cannot be interpreted as exactly «restricting the activities» of the UOC.