SEFC reassigned directly to the Cabinet of Ministers

On December 6, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting reassigned the State Service on Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (SEFC) to its jurisdiction, raising its status to the level of central executive authorities subordinate directly to the Government. This decision was taken today in pursuance of a presidential decree, reports Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on his Telegram channel.

"Last week, a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council addressed the issue of links between certain religious circles in Ukraine and the aggressor state. As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the other day, we must guarantee the spiritual independence of our people and not allow the enemy to weaken us from within. That is why today, in the implementation of the Presidential Decree, we are taking the first decision in this direction. The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience will be assigned to the central executive authorities, which are directly subordinate to the Cabinet," Shmyhal said.

In addition, the Prime Minister said that the structural subdivisions of local administrations in charge of issues related to religious organizations will be subordinated to the State Service for Ethnopolitics.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed the head of the State Ethnopolitics Service, Olena Bohdan.