Poturaev: Bill 8371 has raised concerns among other denominations

Mykyita Poturaev. Photo: Focus

In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, MP Mykyta Poturaev, head of the Ukrainian Parliament's Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, stated that Bill 8371, which effectively aims to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), has raised concerns among other religious groups. As a result, some amendments were made to the bill for its second reading.

Poturaev explained that in the first reading of Bill 8371, there was a provision prohibiting Ukrainian religious organizations from having connections with religious organizations based in the aggressor state.

"We started receiving informal but strong signals from other religious organizations, which have no ties to Russia, that they were somewhat uneasy and concerned about this provision. Their concern was expressed as follows: if the law were exclusively about the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), we wouldn’t be worried. But as it stands, it could potentially be dangerous for everyone. I asked them: can you imagine that a country from which your senior religious organizations originate has attacked Ukraine? It’s absurd, it’s unimaginable. People nodded and smiled but said they were still worried," Poturaev said.

As a result, the version for the second reading will include a clarification that the ban in Ukraine will apply only to the ROC based in Russia.

As the UOJ reported earlier, Mykyta Poturaev also stated that the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) will not sue thousands of UOC communities simultaneously after the adoption of Bill 8371.

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