OCU head lied about Venice Commission's approval of law banning UOC

During a meeting with a religious delegation from the Nordic countries, the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, said that the bill to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) had allegedly received the approval of the Venice Commission. However, this information is not confirmed by open data and contradicts previous statements by officials and calls by international organizations.

The meeting took place on September 30, 2025, at the residence of the head of the OCU. The delegation included the Primate of the Finnish Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate, Archbishop Ilia, and representatives of the Lutheran churches of Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In a conversation with the guests, Epiphany Dumenko described the UOC as “a structure affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate” and stressed the need to “protect the spiritual security of the state.” According to him, the law under discussion “has been examined by the Venice Commission” and is aimed at protecting freedom of religion from hostile propaganda, not against the faith itself.

It is worth noting that the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, has previously spoken out on this issue. He claimed that he had refused to allow MPs to have the Venice Commission to conduct an additional examination of Bill 8371, which was aimed at banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Stefanchuk is convinced that the qualifications of the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada are sufficient to deal with the adoption of this law on their own.