Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law banning the UOC-MP

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law envisaging a ban on the activities of religious organisations linked to Russia in Ukraine. This document implies the termination of the activity of the UOC MP. This is stated in the card of the law.

Thus, the law was sent to the President for signature yesterday, 23 August, and already on Independence Day Zelensky signed it.

The document comes into force in 30 days from the date of its publication. UOC-MP communities will have nine months to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Religious organisations suspected of cooperating with the Russian Orthodox Church will be checked by an appropriate expert commission. It is to be set up by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience. If the commission detects violations, the service will issue an instruction to the church to correct the situation.

We will remind, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on the ban of the UOC-MP on 20 August. "For" voted 265 deputies.

The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations supported the legislative initiative to ban the UOC-MP in Ukraine.