Yelensky: Local authorities cannot ban the UOC, it is illegal
The head of the DESS said that local city councils do not have the authority to prohibit the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the regions.
Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, told DW that the actions of local authorities to ban the UOC in the regions are illegal.
According to him, the Verkhovna Rada is already considering a bill that will legally ban the activities of the Church.
“Local authorities cannot ban churches. The motives and aspirations are clear, but it is illegal. The government bill mentioned above, which is currently being considered in the Verkhovna Rada, is aimed precisely at making it impossible for the Moscow Patriarchate to manipulate the religious environment, which, in turn, is completely controlled by the Kremlin,” Yelensky said.
As reported by the UOJ, the representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada said that a law would be passed in the near future to ban the UOC.
