Poturaiev threatens UOC believers with SSU visits for praying in private homes

Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, MP Mykyta Poturaiev, stated that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) will inspect believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who hold religious services in private residences. He made this statement during a broadcast on Lviv Media.

According to Poturaiev, if such gatherings are found to promote the ideology of the «Russian world,» it will be the SSU—not the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (SSEFC)—that will intervene.

«If they gather somewhere in a house and start promoting the ‘Russian world’, the SSU will come to them, not SSEFC. The SSU is what Ukrainians call the ‘Service of God’. And that will be the end of it—only worse. I wouldn’t advise playing that game,» the MP warned.

Earlier, it was reported that Poturaiev emphasized that delaying the implementation of the law aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church poses a threat to national security.