MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Representatives of Russia's traditional religions condemned the adoption of a bill in Ukraine that would effectively ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
They spoke after the Ukrainian legislature on Tuesday passed the final reading of a bill that would allow a ban on the canonical Orthodox Church. The bill was supported by 265 lawmakers, while at least 226 votes were required for its to pass, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
"In past times, even if we look at the history of wars, church ministers remained out of political strife even in wartime. And what is happening now, the adoption of this bill by the Verkhovna Rada is beyond understanding. I call it lawlessness and godlessness. It is hard to call it otherwise," said Mufti Shafig Pshikhachev, a representative of the North Caucasus Muslim Coordination Center in Moscow.
The permanent representative of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia in Moscow Sanjay Lama (Andrey Balzhirov) described the bill as "infringement of the rights of believers professing the Orthodox faith."
"This is an egregious act that means oppressing people," he said.
Chief Military Rabbi of Russia Aaron Gurevich criticized the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations for supporting the bill at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
"I believe that religious associations that are unrelated to Christian denominations had no right to express their political position at all," he said. "It does not make them look good."
The adoption of the bill earlier on Tuesday was also sharply condemned by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church: its spokesman Vladimir Legoyda and Patriarch Kirill's advisor Archpriest Nikolay Balashov. Balashov told TASS that the bill "flouts internationally recognized norms in the field of protecting religious freedom and provides an opportunity for continued, broader persecution of the church by the Kiev regime."