Law banning the UOC entered into force in Ukraine

Ukraine has officially enacted a law banning the activities of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in the country. The card of the bill on the website of the Verkhovna Rada reads this on September 23.

The profile notes that the document came into force on September 23, 2024.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the final reading of the bill allowing to ban the work of the canonical UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate in the country, August 20. It noted that the UOC has nine months to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, and dioceses and parishes have nine months to withdraw from its membership.

The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned these measures and called on human rights organizations to stand together against the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, noting that they are aimed at destroying Orthodoxy.

On September 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine had been persecuted in the past and now it was banned outright. The head of state emphasized that all these steps taken by Kiev were supported by Western countries.

The official representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ravina Shamdasani, said on September 3 that the law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which actually allows banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, raises concerns about the observance of international human rights norms.

Kiev's persecution of the UOC began as early as 2022: criminal cases were brought against clergy and monks, they were expelled from churches, which were seized by unknown people in military uniforms. Temples, churches and even the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were searched: they were looking for traces of "anti-Ukrainian activity". Believers tried to defend the temples, the seizure of which was almost always accompanied by violence, and went out to rallies, but they could do nothing.