Kremlin blasts draft law banning Ukrainian Orthodox Church - TASS

The Kremlin treats the idea of banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine extremely negatively, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"It is extremely negative," Peskov said, responding to a question from reporters about the Kremlin's reaction to the introduction of a related bill in the Verkhovna Rada.

On Monday, the Verkhovna Rada registered a draft law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the country. The author of the document is a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the Voice party Inna Sovsun. She believes that representatives of the church are allegedly involved in intelligence and sabotage activities. At the same time, she admits that most lawmakers are unlikely to support her initiative because, in their opinion, now is not the right time to pass such a bill.

Vladimir Legoida, the director of Moscow Patriarchate’s department for communications between the Church and society, expressed the opinion that the bills of the Verkhovna Rada deputies on the liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, if passed, would provoke a new round of civil confrontation and lead to an exacerbation of the social crisis.