MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (SSUESS) has officially recognized the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church as being affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, it said on its website.

"The SSUESS has recognized the UOC as affiliated with a foreign religious organization, whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine," it said in a statement, adding it meant the Russian Orthodox Church.

This decision could serve as a legal basis for a complete ban on the canonical church.