According to Zelenskyi, the spiritual independence of Ukraine must be ensured, in particular.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the National Security and Defense Council instructed the government to submit a bill to the Verkhovna Rada to prevent the activities of religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation in Ukraine. We are talking about the UOC MP, where the SBU has recently been conducting an inspection.

As the head of state stated in the evening video message, the spiritual independence of Ukraine must be ensured, in particular.

“We will never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul,” Zelenskyy said.

The President of Ukraine announced that today there was a meeting of the National Security Council, which discussed “numerous facts of connections of certain religious circles in Ukraine with the aggressor state.”

“Unfortunately, even Russian terror and a full-scale war did not convince some actors that it is worth overcoming the temptation of evil,” Zelenskyi said.

At the same time, he added that such conditions should be created in Ukraine, when any actors dependent on the aggressor state will have no opportunity to manipulate Ukrainians and weaken Ukraine from the inside.

He also informed that the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience has been instructed to conduct a religious examination of the statute on the management of the UOC for the presence of a church-canonical connection with the Moscow Patriarchate and, if necessary, to take measures provided for by law.

In addition, Zelenskyi emphasized that a check of the existence of legal grounds and compliance with the conditions of use by religious organizations of the property located on the territory of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve should be carried out.

Also, the National Security Council instructed all bodies responsible for national security issues to intensify measures to identify and counter the subversive activities of Russian special services in the religious environment of Ukraine.

“And apply personal sanctions – the names will be made public soon,” the president added.

Zelensky noted that it is necessary to raise the status and strengthen the powers of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience. According to him, the reform of this structure will take place, which will allow it to really protect the rights and legitimate interests of Ukrainians and the state.

“With these and other decisions, we guarantee Ukraine’s spiritual independence. I want to emphasize: in 1991, our state embarked on a legal and democratic path. We will continue on this path. Only legal steps. Balanced decisions. And national interests,” the President of Ukraine emphasized.

Activities of the UOC MP in Ukraine: the latest news

Since November 22, SBU employees have been carrying out counterintelligence measures in places of worship, on the grounds of monasteries and dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On the same day, in the Rivne region, events were held on the territory of the Koretsky Holy Trinity Monastery, the women’s monastery in honor of the Volyn Icon of the Mother of God, and on the territory of the premises of the Sarnensky-Polish Eparchy of the UOC MP. SBU investigators found pro-Russian literature, millions in cash and “dubious” citizens of Russia in the premises of the UOC MP.

On November 25, during counter-intelligence activities in the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC MP, documents confirming the presence of Russian citizenship in the leadership of diocesan structures were discovered.

On November 27, the SBU conducted counter-intelligence measures on the territory of the diocesan administration and the religious building of the local diocese in Ivano-Frankivsk.

On Thursday, December 1, the special service reported that they checked the UOC (MP) monastery in Transcarpathia, where the nuns called for the “awakening of Mother Russia.” More than 20 people underwent in-depth interviews, in particular with the use of a polygraph.