DESS declares UOC Kyiv Metropolia affiliated with Moscow

Leadership of DESS. Photo: DESS website

On August 27, 2025, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) adopted a decision recognizing the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as affiliated with Moscow. The corresponding decree was signed by the head of DESS, Viktor Yelensky.

According to the statement published on the DESS website, the agency’s officials, following their investigation, identified signs of affiliation of the UOC Metropolia with the Russian Orthodox Church, which constitutes a violation of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.” In connection with this, DESS issued an order to the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC to eliminate the violation.

DESS stated that the Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Onuphry, in his letter declared “his refusal to comply with the said order.” In the agency’s view, this confirms the existence of organizational ties between the UOC and the ROC.

“Thus, in the absence of grounds for concluding that the violation has been remedied or that the order was issued in error, in accordance with part fifteen of Article 16 of the Law, or for revoking the order in accordance with part seventeen of Article 16 of the Law, DESS has recognized the Kyiv Metropolia as an organization whose activity in Ukraine is prohibited,” the statement reads.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Yelensky was prepared to give the UOC Metropolia another 60 days to “break with Moscow.”

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