MP Poturayev notes inaction of the State Emergency Service in the case of banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

MP Nikita Poturaev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy and co-author of the law banning the UOC, said that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience could have established the affiliation of the canonical Church’s communities with the ROC long ago. The deputy noted that the SESF can already sue and de-register those communities that refuse to comply with the provisions of Law No. 3894 and transfer to the OCU. He said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“This law clearly stipulates what the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) can do when this nine-month period expires. It can go to court with a demand to terminate the religious organization. “We know from the re-registration (of religious organizations — ed.): who transfers, who does not. As of now, the number of transitions has slowed down significantly. …Those who wanted to or those who thought and hesitated, they finally made a decision and have already moved from the UOC to the OCU.” On the other hand, this (slowdown in the re-registration of religious communities — Ed.) may be a sign that the UOC-MP is sending such signals down its vertical,” — Poturaev said.

He emphasized that the DESS could have started the prohibition procedure long ago, but for some unknown reason, this is not happening.

“But in fact, the DESS could have taken the necessary steps long ago to establish the existence of such ties among different levels of religious organizations. We are not necessarily talking about thousands (of communities — ed.). Because it is clear that the centers of such ties are the leadership centers here in Ukraine. If we find out that they have ties to Moscow, it is these governing centers that we need to deal with,” — the MP emphasized.

Earlier, the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, said that due to bureaucratic inconsistencies in the government, the State Service cannot begin the process of checking religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.