MP who opposed the UOC announces resignation of parliamentary mandate
MP Poturaiev is remembered for his statement that after the ban of the UOC, its private church buildings could be used to store vegetables, for trade, or to open casinos.
On July 16, 2026, Member of Parliament from the "Servant of the People" faction Mykyta Poturaiev announced the early resignation of his parliamentary mandate during a session of the Verkhovna Rada, reports the "Judicial and Legal Gazette."
Poturaiev heads the parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy. For his parliamentary powers to be terminated, the Verkhovna Rada must adopt a corresponding resolution.
The MP is remembered for his sharp statements directed at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and his support of the law aimed against the UOC. He stated that he did not believe the Church's claims of independence from the ROC, and called it "an extension of that Kremlin paw, dirty, covered in the blood of the Ukrainian people."
Poturaiev also claimed that after the ban of the UOC, its communities would lose state and municipal church buildings, while religious services in privately owned buildings would be prohibited. "Let them store vegetables there, trade, open casinos for all I care — that is their business, that is their private property," the MP said. According to him, the SBU should monitor secret gatherings of believers: "A service will come to them, if they gather in secret — a Divine one. And that will be the end of it too, only worse."
Previously, the UOJ reported that Mykyta Poturaiev stated that Ukrainian citizens should direct a percentage of their taxes to support religious organizations. "The point is for Ukrainian citizens to have the opportunity to support, from their taxes, those religious organizations they consider worthy," he said. Among the possible recipients of such support, the MP named the OCU and the UGCC, while simultaneously criticizing the system of financing the UOC.
