DESS Recognized the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC as “Affiliated with the ROC”

On August 27, 2025, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience decided to recognize the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as “affiliated with a foreign religious organization whose activity is banned in Ukraine.” This was reported on the official website of the State Service.

According to DESS, this decision followed a “study” that allegedly revealed signs of affiliation between the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church. This, in the agency’s view, constitutes a violation of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.”

In this regard, the State Service issued an order to the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC to eliminate the alleged violations. However, the authors noted that in his letter, Metropolitan Onufriy, Primate of the UOC, declared his refusal to comply with the order.

“Thus, due to the absence of grounds to conclude that the violations had been eliminated or that the order was mistakenly issued in accordance with Part 15 of Article 16 of the Law, or to revoke the order in accordance with Part 17 of Article 16 of the Law, DESS recognized the KYIV METROPOLIS OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH as affiliated with a foreign religious organization whose activity in Ukraine is prohibited under Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations,’” the DESS website stated.

It should be recalled that Metropolitan Klyment (Vecheria), Head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, emphasized the need to adhere to the provisions of the UOC Statute in order to determine whether the Church has any dependence on foreign religious centers. The hierarch described as manipulative the statements of DESS head Viktor Yelensky, who “does not believe” that the UOC has no ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.