“Glavkom” Editor Expresses Concern Over Slow Implementation of Law Banning the UOC

Mykola Pidvezianyi , editor-in-chief of the “Glavkom” website, published a column criticizing the lack of progress in enforcing the law banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He noted that nine months have passed since the law was adopted — the exact timeframe legislators had allowed for a “voluntary” transition of religious communities deemed by the state to be affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate.

According to Pidvezianyi , the vast majority of UOC communities have not fulfilled the legal requirement to change their subordination, explaining that they are not part of the Russian Orthodox Church. He also criticized the position of regional authorities in some areas, who, in his view, do not recognize a legal link between the UOC and the ROC.

The article also highlights that the Cabinet of Ministers has yet to approve the bylaws required by the law — measures that were to be adopted within the first three months. As a result, the State Service for Ethnopolitics has not received the necessary legal tools to carry out the procedures set forth by the law.

It should be recalled that Viktor Yelenskyi, head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, stated that due to bureaucratic inconsistencies within the government, the SSEFC is unable to begin examining UOC religious communities for affiliation with the ROC.