Ukraine's parliament has banned the activities of religious groups tied to the Russian Orthodox Church or any other faith group supporting Russia's invasion — a measure widely seen as targeting a Ukrainian religious body, despite its claim to independence from Moscow. The bill creates the legal tools for the government to ban the activities of any religious group deemed to be too closely connected to Russia or to support its invasion of Ukraine..
The Verkhovna Rada approved the bill on Tuesday with 265 affirmative votes and only 29 opposed. The explicit ban on the Russian Orthodox Church is seen as aimed at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which historically has been tied to the Russian church. The UOC has proclaimed its loyalty to Ukraine and insists that it has broken from the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church.
But the Ukrainian government says it remains canonically tied to the Russian church and its Moscow-based patriarch, who has depicted the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a holy war. A large majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox, but they are divided between two main groups with similar names: the UOC and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which would not be affected by the legislation. Many Ukrainians continue to call the UOC the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate, as it was commonly known, despite its recent claims to independence.
The approval of the legislation comes more than a year and a half after it was first endorsed by President Volodymyr Zelens.