Kyiv's move against Russia-linked churches, December 2022

What was Kyiv trying to achieve when it turned to religious organisations with Russian ties? By 7 December 2022, the question was already live, after two moves made on 2 December.

On that date, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree banning religious organisations with links to Russia and imposing personal sanctions on their representatives. He also announced that the government would draft a law banning churches affiliated with Russia.

The stated rationale was security. Zelenskyy said the law was necessary to counter Russian government efforts to "weaken Ukraine from within". That framing placed the measure within the wider confrontation between the two countries, rather than treating it as a purely religious or administrative matter.

The same day, as reported at the time, he submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that would formally ban any activity in Ukraine by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). The decree therefore worked on two tracks: immediate sanctions on individuals, and a legislative route aimed at a specific church.

For readers looking back from 7 December 2022, the open point was parliamentary: the bill had been submitted, but the Rada had still to act on it.