"Changing the name is not enough": Media report on preparations of DESS to pass “sentence” on UOC

The Ukrainian media outlet Glavkom published an article stating that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience plans to publish the verdict of an expert analysis on the affiliation of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with Russia in the near future. The media claim that the UOC is trying to counteract the situation in the courts, but the decision that the Kyiv Metropolis is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate has already been made. The article was published on the Glavkom website.

According to the publication, in June, the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC appealed to the Kyiv District Administrative Court three times with the same demands. There are four demands: first, to suspend the Cabinet of Ministers’ Resolution No. 543 of May 9, 2025; second, to prohibit the State Service for Ethnic Policy from conducting any research on any religious organizations, including the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC, for the purpose of affiliation with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine. The UOC lawyers also demand that the Ethnic Policy Service be prohibited from publishing interim and final results of research on signs of affiliation.

At the same time, representatives of the UOC insist that the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Activities of Religious Organizations” and the governmental resolution on the procedure for affiliations research, derived from it, contradict the Constitution and numerous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. However, the Themis concluded that the Church did not provide adequate and admissible evidence of the existence of a real danger of harm to its rights and interests.

However, on June 24, the Kyiv District Administrative Court finally received the long-awaited statement of claim from the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC. It consists of 37 pages, and its essence boils down to one thing: to declare illegal and invalid the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution of May 9, 2025, No. 543 “On Approval of the Procedure for Conducting a Study on the Presence of Signs of Affiliation of a Religious Organization with a Foreign Religious Organization, the Activities of Which are Banned in Ukraine.” The case will be considered by Judge Alyona Kushnova, who in 2023 already ruled on the affiliation of the UOC with the Moscow Patriarchate.

The publication notes that in the near future, the State Service for Ethnic Policy will “break down” where there is affiliation and what the clergy must do to continue to work in the legal field. A list of religious organizations with so-called dual affiliation will also be published. In this way, the state will show the connection between the lower levels (religious communities) and the center of influence (metropolitanate), which has canonical communication with a hostile religious organization.

“Since August 2024, the approach has changed dramatically at the legislative level. If a religious organization (and this will be confirmed by the relevant expertise) operating in Ukraine has a connection with the Russian Orthodox Church, it must break this affiliation. Otherwise, it will be terminated by a court decision. Today, it is not enough for religious organizations to change their name and continue to maintain ties with the Russian church,” added an informed source in the Service.