The Verkhovna Rada adopted an appeal to the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy and the parliaments of its member states.
People’s deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak (The Voice faction) announced this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
According to the politician, 254 people’s deputies voted for the relevant resolution (No. 9262).
In the appeal, the Ukrainian lawmakers state that there can be no justification for the presence of the delegation of the Russian Federation at the 30th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. They also emphasize the inadmissibility of the Russian representative Sergey Gavrilov’s tenure as IAO president. In this regard, people’s deputies say it is impossible for them to take part in the IAO General Assembly.
The Verkhovna Rada calls on the parliaments of the member states of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy to strongly condemn Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and to immediately exclude Russia from the IAO, as well as to prematurely terminate the powers of the incumbent president of the IAO and representatives of the state sponsor of terrorism in the governing bodies of the Assembly.
The Ukrainian Parliament requests that work be launched on making amendments to the Regulations of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in order to bring them into line with the modern realities of the development of world Orthodoxy, in particular, to revise the structure of the governing bodies and the rights of its president.
In addition, the Verkhovna Rada calls for strict sanctions to be applied to the participants of the General Assembly, which contradict the spirit of the Constituent Act of the Assembly and make it impossible for representatives of the progressive part of the Orthodox world to participate.
The session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy should be held in the city of Halkidiki (Greece) from June 29 to July 3.
