Ukraine’s president signs law banning Russia-linked religious groups

Away from the frontlines, Ukraine is waging a different battle against Russia as it seeks to remove Moscow’s influence from religious institutions.

President Volodymr Zelensky signed into law a bill banning religious groups with ties to Russia Saturday, Ukraine’s Independence Day. The bill’s main target is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which has historically been linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate.

Zelensky referenced the bill in his nightly address, saying “Ukrainian orthodoxy today is taking a step toward liberation from the devils of Moscow.”

The new law gives the UOC and other religious groups nine months to cut ties with Russia or risk being shut down by court order. The law passed Ukraine’s parliament on August 20, with 265 lawmakers voting for and 29 voting against.

While the UOC claims to have cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church in 2022, Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience says the links are still intact and the church remains in Moscow’s orbit.

Ukraine’s Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has accused the UOC of spreading pro-Moscow propaganda. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the SBU has opened criminal proceedings against more than 100 clergymen of the UOC. Nearly 50 have already been charged and 26 have received sentences, according to the SBU.

One of the clerics convicted used his sermons to defend the full-scale invasion of Russia and the seizure of parts of Ukraine. In conversations with parishioners, the cleric tried to persuade them to go to Russia or occupied regions to help Russians. He was sentenced to five years.

The purpose of this law is to ban the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine “which is an instrument of Russian influence and propaganda” according to Mykyta Poturaiev, a Ukrainian member of Parliament who sponsored the bill.

“The Moscow Patriarchate is not an inspiration but a participant in the war,” Poturaiev said.

The majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox. For centuries, Ukrainian churches were subordinate to and administered by the Moscow Patriarchate. But with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine’s Orthodox churches split. In 2019, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox world Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople officially recognized an independent Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

For the leader of Ukraine’s Kyiv-based church Metropolitan Epiphanius, the law provides an opportunity “to protect the Ukrainian spiritual space from the yoke of the Russian world.”

“Everyone can see that in Russia, religious centers, not only the Moscow Patriarchate, but also the centers of Muslims, Protestants, and Buddhists, are under the full control of the Kremlin. They spread the ideology of the Russian world, justify the war against Ukraine, and say that it is a so-called holy war. That the destruction of Ukraine is a morally justified goal and even a duty of Russian troops,” he said.

According to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in April 2024, 83% of Ukrainians believed that the state should intervene in the activities of the UOC to one degree or another. In particular, 63% believe that Ukrainian Orthodox Church should be completely banned in Ukraine.

Metropolitan Clement, spokesperson of the UOC criticized the bill in a statement on Facebook, calling the law as an attempt “to divide people into right and wrong citizens.”

Outside a UOC church in Kyiv, a 47-year-old parishioner said recent moves against his church were stifling. “The government is now creeping into my soul. It is up to me to decide how I pray. They have gone completely crazy,” the parishioner – who refused to give his name for fear of reprisal – told CNN.

Ihor, a Ukrainian officer, used to worship in the UOC but said he has stopped going to church altogether.

While he doesn’t think politics should get involved with religion, he acknowledges “there are many priests in Ukrainian Orthodox Church who support Russia and war in Ukraine. For this they must answer for before God.”

Kosta Gak contributed reporting.