The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting refused to register an outlet that would be run by the UOC (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate).
The regulator made such the decision at a meeting on August 8, reports Religious Pravda.
The Sumy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) intended to register its media branch. However, the regulator turned the application down.
At the request of the regulator, the diocese produced its charter, which the Council says fails to comply with the requirements of Article 12 of Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, and therefore lost its validity in the part of the title of the organization. Therefore, the outlet was not registered.
Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” obliges a religious organization, which is part of a structure whose management center is located in a state that has launched military aggression against Ukraine, to reflect its affiliation to that state in the organization’s name.
That is, the diocese shall re-register, indicating in its title the fact that it belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate.
