The State Service of Ukraine for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience has found signs of affiliation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine. This is reported by UNN with reference to research results.
The corresponding order "On the detection of signs of affiliation of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" was issued by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience on July 08, 2025.
It is noted that according to the results of the study on the presence of signs of affiliation of the UOC (MP) with a foreign religious organization, whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine, the research group found the following signs of affiliation:
- the scope of rights of "independence and self-governance" granted by the ROC to the UOC (MP) does not mean full independence, in the sense given to autocephalous churches by the mother church;
- the UOC (MP) charter contains signs of belonging to the ROC structure;
- the ROC charter stipulates that the hierarchs of the UOC (MP) are members of the Local and Bishops' Councils of the ROC, and participate in their work;
- a number of other signs. Source: https://censor.net/ua/n3562251
Recall
The Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC-MP filed a lawsuit against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, challenging the resolution on the procedure for checking churches for ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The UOC-MP claims that it was not involved in the research process, which deprived it of the opportunity to defend its rights.
On May 9, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for conducting a study on the presence of signs of affiliation of a religious organization with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine, as well as the procedure for considering the issue of confirming facts of using a religious organization for propaganda of the "Russian world" ideology.