The Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk doubts that the parliament will have the necessary 226 votes to ban the activities of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) if the relevant bills are put to the vote.

"The Parliament is a mechanism that makes decisions collectively. And it seems to me that there are not yet 226 votes for the adoption of such an important legislative act. To bring it into the hall is to fail [the vote]. <...> It's just pointless legally and politically irresponsible," he replied in an interview with the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign media agent) to the question about the absence of relevant bills on the agenda of the parliament.
He expressed hope that "there will be 226 votes," but so far, the chairman of the Rada stated, the discussion is taking place not only within the pro-presidential party "Servant of the People", but also within other factions.

In recent years, the Ukrainian authorities have been actively pursuing a course to oust the UOC, including encouraging the transfer of its religious communities to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU), created in 2018 from two schismatic religious structures. Over the past year, accusations of treason have been made against the priests of the UOC, sanctions have been imposed. At the same time, the local authorities deprive the UOC of the right to lease land for temples. Also, with their encouragement, the supporters of the OCU forcibly seize the temples of the UOC, attack the priests.

On behalf of the President of the country, Vladimir Zelensky, the government has prepared and submitted to parliament a bill that will ban the UOC in the country if the Ukrainian authorities conclude that it is connected with Russia.

According to the materials of TASS
Photo © Nikolay Golitsynsky / Lori Photo Bank