Church in Ukraine will be free from Moscow's influence - Yermak

The Church in Ukraine will be free from Russia’s influence.

Head of the President Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak wrote this on the Telegram messaging app, Ukrinform reports.

“The church in Ukraine will be free from Moscow's influence. Since the Soviet era, the church in Russia and for Russia has been the territory and ears of their special services. Russia today is a country that destroys churches in Ukraine. For them, there is no God, no faith. This is a screen for murder and violence,” Yermak wrote.

He also stressed the inadmissibility of threats and intimidation by those who are committed to defending the influence of the Moscow church.

“This is not normal that in Ukraine today there are those who are ready to defend the influence of the Moscow church, beat people, threaten them on social networks, having the status of a people's deputy. This is not about freedom, but about something else. We shouldn't do this - our society has already passed all the tests for unity. There will be no church split here. There will be no threats either,” Yermak wrote.

As reported by Ukrinform, in January 2023, the government registered in the Verkhovna Rada bill No. 8371 regarding religious organizations in Ukraine. This bill proposes the termination of the activities of the UOC-MP in Ukraine.

On October 19, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the bill in its first reading.

On July 23, MPs blocked the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada as they refused to consider a bill to ban the UOC-MP, thus disrupting the plenary session.

In an interview during the nationwide telethon United News, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk assured that the revised draft law would be considered in the coming days and would have much wider support among MPs.