VR Committee calls for a ban on confessions involved in Russian aggression

The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy addressed the Verkhovna Rada with a proposal to legally ban the activities of religious organizations directly or indirectly involved in the aggression of the Russian Federation. The relevant proposals were put forward in the recommendations of the Committee, articulated as a result of the hearings on the topic “On Threats to the National Security of Ukraine Related to the Activities of Religious Organizations Having Governing Centers on the Territory of the Aggressor State” dated May 30, 2022. The document was published on the website of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Speech.

“It is recommended that Verkhovna Rada consider and approve a draft law on banning the activities of religious organizations whose authorized persons have been convicted of crimes against the foundations of national security, and whose activities are aimed at glorifying, justifying the actions and / or inaction of persons who have carried out or are carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine, recognize as lawful or do not recognize the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, incite religious hatred,” the text of the document says.

The Verkhovna Rada Committee also proposes to create a temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to "investigate the facts of collaboration activities of representatives of religious organizations during the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine."

As the UOJ wrote, on May 30, 2022, the Rada Committee discussed the threats to national security from the Russian Orthodox Church.