Rada has enough votes to ban UOC-MP – Poturaev
19 August 2024 21:45
The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy , Mykyta Poturaev, said that the Verkhovna Rada has a sufficient number of votes to adopt a law banning the activities of religious organisations associated with Russia. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to “Ukrinform news agency.
“Today, I estimate the chances of his support in the hall to be higher than when we were forced to resort to a protest near the rostrum (23 July – ed.). We believed that we had 240 votes that day, and optimistically, maybe 250,” Poturaev told reporters.
The politician is confident that the law will be passed, especially with the support of the President and the leadership of the Presidential Office.
Poturayev noted that although there may not be a constitutional majority in support of the draft law due to the opposition of former members of the OPFL, the law will still be voted on. “He added that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the head of the OP Andriy Yermak have repeatedly spoken in support of the draft law.
It should be noted that the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches supported the ban on the activities of the UOC-MP in Ukraine. on 16 August 2024, members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations (AUCCRO) met with President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. The meeting discussed various issues, including the protection of freedom of religion and spiritual independence of Ukraine, ensuring constitutional order and public safety.
Following the meeting, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches supported the ban on the activities of the UOC-MP in Ukraine.
“We support the legislative initiative of the President of Ukraine to make it impossible for such organisations to operate in our country, which also has broad political and public support,” the Council said in a statement.
A little earlier, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, appealed to the head of the UOC-MP, Onufriy, calling for a dialogue on unification “without any preconditions”. In particular, he stressed that the OCU could not agree to the conditions previously announced – to renounce the Tomos and not accept communities that decided to leave the UOC-MP.
