MP Poturaiev says parliament has enough votes to ban Moscow-affiliated church

Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Mykyta Poturaiev said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"Today, I estimate the chances of support for this bill in the session hall higher than when we had to resort to a protest near the rostrum [on July 23]. We believed that we had 240 votes that day, optimistically - maybe 250. Now I think that with the support of the President, the head of the Office of the President, and the presidium led by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, we should definitely have more votes," Poturaiev said.

In his opinion, the constitutional majority will not support the bill because among the former members of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, only one MP supported the bill at first reading.

"That's why we won't get a constitutional majority, but I think we will confidently vote for it," Poturaiev said.

He recalled that President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly expressed his support for the draft law several times and Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak stated the need to adopt this law as soon as possible.

According to Poturaiev, the latest amendments made last Friday were aimed at ensuring the legal improvement of the document.

"It's like when a car comes off the assembly line, it's painted, and then varnished to make it look flawless. That's how it looks here. This is, in fact, the final polishing of this bill. Nothing was significantly changed there," the MP said.

The government in January 2023 registered in the Verkhovna Rada bill No. 8371 on the activity of religious organizations in Ukraine, according to which the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate could be terminated.

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

On July 23, MPs blocked the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada due to the parliament's refusal to consider the bill banning the activity of the Moscow-affiliated church.

On August 16, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy approved amendments to Bill No. 8371 and recommended that the parliament adopt the document at second reading and in its entirety.

The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations announced on August 17 that it supports the legislative initiative to ban the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.