Ukraine to check Odessa diocese of ROCOR(A) for links to banned organizations

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) announced the start of an investigation into the affiliation of the Eparchial Administration of the Odessa Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Agafangel Pashkovsky Formation (ROCOR(A)) with foreign religious organizations whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine. The verification will officially begin on November 14, 2025.

According to the official Telegram channel of the DESS, the study will be conducted by a specially created working group. The purpose of the check is to establish or refute the presence of links between the Eparchial Administration of the Odessa Eparchy of the ROCOR and structures whose activities in the country are under a ban.

The procedure is regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, as well as the Procedure for conducting the relevant study, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on May 9, 2025 № 543. The agency promised that the results of the study will be reported additionally after its completion in due course.

Recall, earlier we reported that the Ukrainian media spread a fake regarding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in order to incite hatred in society. This time, the news that the UOC is allegedly illegally building a “Moscow Kremlin” near Kiev was circulated “in wide circulation”. The information was put on the net after the relevant appeal of Ukrainian MPs to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). As a result, it turned out that it was not the UOC, but the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (Vitaly Ustinov) that was involved in the construction.