MP Vyatrovych Hopes for Swift Ban on the UOC

On May 26, the Humanitarian Committee of the Verkhovna Rada reviewed the implementation of the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Ukraine. This was reported by MP Volodymyr Vyatrovych from the European Solidarity party. According to him, the government approved key bylaws with a six-month delay, and the issue of religious organizations renting state and municipal property remains unresolved. This was reported by the Kryvyi Rih city website.

«The UOC, as a branch of the Moscow church structure created under Stalin and controlled by Russian intelligence services, continues to operate in Ukraine with impunity, using thousands of state-owned properties,» the MP stated.

Vyatrovych also noted that on May 20, the State Service for Ethnopolitics launched an official investigation into whether the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which is banned in Ukraine.

«I hope the results of this investigation will finally confirm that the ‘UOC’ is a structure of the Moscow church, prompting further investigations into all its dioceses and parishes,» he emphasized.

The MP called on the government, local authorities, and law enforcement agencies to join the process of «neutralizing the Russian church» in Ukraine. This includes liberating state-owned religious buildings «from structures of the Moscow Patriarchate» and supporting transitions to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

The committee plans to appeal to the government to expedite the implementation of the law and intensify the fight against narratives of alleged persecution of UOC believers, especially in the United States.

It should be recalled that Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), Secretary for Inter-Christian Relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, commented on the existing ties between the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. According to him, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been autonomous and independent in its activities since 1990, and its current connection with the ROC is of a purely spiritual nature.