MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. The draft law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, registered in the Verkhovna Rada, contradicts international norms and principles, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova told reporters on Wednesday.
"If we speak in terms of law, this normative act contradicts all international norms and principles. If we speak in terms of morality, it is not subject to any assessment at all, because it is an attack on the right to freedom of religion, to one's way of life, to one's views, and it is absolutely unacceptable," Moskalkova said.
On Monday, the Verkhovna Rada registered a draft law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the country. The author of the document is a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the Voice party Inna Sovsun. She believes that representatives of the church are allegedly involved in intelligence and sabotage activities. At the same time, she admits that most lawmakers are unlikely to support her initiative because, in their opinion, now is not the right time to pass such a bill.
Vladimir Legoida, the director of Moscow Patriarchate’s department for communications between the Church and society expressed the opinion that the bills of the Verkhovna Rada deputies on the liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, if passed, would provoke a new round of civil confrontation and lead to an exacerbation of the social crisis.