Overwhelming 80% of Ukrainians back new law banning Russian Orthodox Church's activities – survey

Alvina Kaminska

The absolute majority of Ukrainians, namely 80%, support the recently approved law banning the activities of religious organizations connected to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) survey, conducted from September 20 to October 3, evidenced that.

As experts noted, there are different approaches to determining the religious self-identification of the population.

KIIS said that the following approach is used in regular monitoring surveys:

• First, respondents were asked the question, "To which denomination or religion, if any, do you belong?" where Orthodoxy / Greek Catholicism / etc. were listed, i.e.
• Then, if the participants indicated that they identify as Orthodox, they were further asked the question, "Which specific Orthodox Church do you align with?" and were given two choices to choose from:

1. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (established after the Unification Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and some bishops from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate)
2. Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate.

Compared to July 2022, the religious self-identification of Ukrainians has mostly stayed the same.

"The absolute majority of Ukrainians – 80% – support the approval of this Law. 16% do not support it, and another 4% are undecided," sociologists noted.

^{Photo: KIIS}

KIIS notes that, in fact, the vast majority of Ukrainians support the adopted law in all regions (from 71% in the East to 83% in the West).

^{Photo: KIIS}

^{The research took place from September 20 to October 3. 2,004 respondents over the age of 18 who lived in the territory of Ukraine, which the government of Ukraine controlled, were interviewed by telephone using a random sample of mobile numbers.}

^{The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by Ukraine's authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who went abroad after February 24, 2022.}

^{Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 2.9% for indicators close to 50%, 2.5% for indicators close to 25%, 1.7% for indicators close to 10%, and 1.3% for indicators close to 5%.}

For reference:

In January 2023, the government registered a draft law prohibiting the activities of religious organizations associated with Russia in Ukraine. Such a document may terminate the activity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP).

On August 20, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament – ed.] adopted a draft law that prohibits the activities of religious organizations associated with the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Such a document may terminate the UOC MP's activity.

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on August 23 prohibiting religious organizations related to Russia from operating in Ukraine. This legislation could potentially lead to the cessation of the UOC MP's activities.

In turn, Metropolitan Kliment, head of the UOC's information and educational department, made a comment, assuring that the church will continue to exist as a true church in Ukraine.

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