MP says there are 240 votes in parliament in favor of banning Moscow Patriarchate

There are 240 votes in the Verkhovna Rada in support of a draft law banning the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.

Ukrainian MP Oksana Savchuk said this in Ivano-Frankivsk during the Via Carpatia forum, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"There are already 240 votes. [...] I spoke with [Verkhovna Rada] Speaker [Ruslan Stefanchuk] right after I registered the draft law banning the activity of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine and told him that if he implements this decision, he will go down in history. He said it was impossible because there were no votes. Exactly one year has passed and the situation has changed," Savchuk said.

MP Mykyta Poturaiev, Chairman of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, also confirmed there were votes in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to support a draft law banning the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.

"I hope that the Servant of the People faction will give 170 votes in favor of the government draft law [banning the Moscow Patriarchate]. My colleagues say that there may be more. In the hall, we need 226 votes, and better 235-240 votes. [...] I think we will vote on the government draft law and improve it before the second reading," Poturaiev said.