The law on renaming Ukrainian religious organizations whose leadership is based in an “aggressor country” has entered into force.
The Verkhovnaya Rada’s official newspaper Golos Ukrainy published the text of the document on Wednesday.
The Culture Ministry’s department for religions and nationalities is expected to be in charge of conducting checks to decide which religious organizations are subject to the new law.
Under the law, religious communities subject to the new measure will be given nine months to change their name and submit relevant documents to the authorities.
The Ukrainian parliament on December 20 gave 240 votes in favor of adopting amendments to the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko signed the bill into law on December 22. The document obliges a religious organization that is part of a religious organization with its center in a state that has staged a military aggression against Ukraine and has temporarily occupied its territory to indicate affiliation with such a religious organization abroad in its name.
Even though the new law does not directly refer to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate, it is believed that the law is directed against the UOC, which plans to appeal it in the Ukrainian Constitutional Court.
Source: Interfax