Lawyer: Metropolitan Onufrіy may fall under sanctions after losing citizenship

Lawyer Danylo Triasov from the firm Leshchenko & Partners has stated that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, could be subjected to government-imposed sanctions following the revocation of his Ukrainian citizenship. This development is legally feasible, according to the lawyer, as it reflects a broader pattern where the state first strips individuals of citizenship and only then imposes restrictive measures. Triasov made this statement in a comment to Glavkom.

He explained that this sequence of actions has already been applied to certain Ukrainian businessmen, public figures, and clergy. Once stripped of their citizenship, these individuals have been targeted with personal sanctions under the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions,” which prohibits such measures from being imposed on Ukrainian citizens.

“The state effectively removes a person from its list of citizens, and only afterward introduces sanctions — formally treating them as a foreign national or a stateless individual,” Triasov clarified.

The lawyer also emphasized that loss of citizenship leads to the automatic forfeiture of all rights granted by the Constitution of Ukraine. Should it be established that Metropolitan Onufriy does not possess any other citizenship — including Russian, which the Security Service of Ukraine had previously alleged — he could be officially classified as a stateless person (apatrid).

In that case, Triasov noted, a legal contradiction arises with Article 25 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which explicitly prohibits both the revocation of citizenship and the forced expulsion of Ukrainian citizens. This situation could become the subject of separate legal proceedings and a precedent in state administrative practice.

It was previously reported that the revocation of citizenship from Metropolitan Onufriy and Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna was, according to expert Mykola Mitrokhin, a direct response by the authorities to the failed attempt to seize the UOC cathedral in Chernivtsi. This cathedral was seen as Metropolitan Onufriy’s spiritual stronghold, from which he had preached for over twenty years. The attempted takeover ended in failure and strong resistance from UOC faithful.