Head of GESS calls on UOC to abandon its Charter

The head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), Viktor Yelensky, called on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to abandon its current Charter. This statement was made in the context of the discussion of the bill to ban the UOC at the event «Dialogue of Church, State and Society: Ways to Understanding», where Yelensky again accused the Church of being affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and using religion for subversive activities. This was reported by the DESS press service.

The event, organized by DESS in cooperation with the Sophia Brotherhood organization, was held on December 11, 2025, in Kyiv and was devoted to ways of understanding between the Church, state and society, as well as to discussing the law banning the UOC. According to Viktor Yelensky, this document is «a response to Russia’s attempts to use religion to subvert Ukraine.» The official also assured that the law «does not violate freedom of conscience.»

Commenting on the situation with the lawsuit filed by the State Department of Economic and Social Services to ban the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC, Yelensky recalled that his department’s employees had found «signs of its affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church» and had previously issued an order to eliminate these ties. The head of the DESS expressed both the claims he had already voiced many times to the UOC and those that had not been voiced before, including a call to abandon its Charter. Yelensky claims that the UOC Statute «formally binds it to the Russian church structure.» He also accused the church leadership of refusing to comply with the DESS order and delaying the lawsuits.

According to the press service of the DESS, other participants of the event discussed «the topics of practical mechanisms of understanding in communities and the culture of dialogue between different religious jurisdictions.» However, the official press release did not mention whether these discussions included examples of the seizure of UOC churches by representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

As reported, on December 10, 2025, a discussion «Dialogue of the Church, State and Society: Paths to Understanding» was held in Kyiv. The event, organized by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, was attended by representatives of the UOC, OCU, media, public organizations and specialized government agencies.