UOC Challenges Cabinet Resolution on “Links to Moscow” in Court

The Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has filed an administrative lawsuit against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, demanding that a government resolution regulating inspections of religious organizations for alleged ties to “foreign structures” be declared unlawful. The filing became known on June 24, 2025. The UOC is listed as the plaintiff, and the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience is named as a third party. This was reported by the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ).

The case concerns Cabinet Resolution No. 543 of May 9, 2025, “On the Approval of the Procedure for Conducting Research into the Affiliation of a Religious Organization with a Foreign Religious Organization Whose Activities Are Prohibited in Ukraine.” The UOC considers this resolution to be unlawful and subject to repeal.

The case will be heard by Judge Aliona Kushnova of the Kyiv District Administrative Court. She is previously known for a controversial ruling against the UOC, upholding the so-called “renaming law,” which obliges the Church to amend its name to reflect affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.

It is also worth recalling that Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, advisor to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, commented on the Estonian Parliament’s adoption of controversial amendments to the Law “On Churches and Parishes,” which effectively restrict the activities of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The priest emphasized that state authorities have no right to interfere in the canonical structure of the Church.