A draft law on the banning of the Russian Orthodox Church and all institutions and religious organizations that are part of it or subordinate to it has been introduced in the Ukrainian parliament. MP Irina Frieze said on social media. 

She said that the bill had been submitted by the European Solidarity faction and noted that the Russian church “has been engaged in blatant anti-Ukrainian and subversive activities and has supported all the actions of the Russian criminal regime."

A day before the introduction of the draft law, the Security Service of Ukraine conducted searches in several monasteries and buildings across the country. 

It said 850 individuals had been checked, with 50 of them interrogated. 

In May, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -a  part of the Russian Orthodox Church -  declared independence from it. 

But politicians continued to criticize it for what they believed to be pro-Moscow policies. 

In October, the Security Service of Ukraine searched the Metropolitan of Tulchyn, who was accused of keeping "pro-Russian literature".

Some politicians claim that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which received a certificate of independence from the Patriarch of Constantinople in 2019, should become the only Orthodox Church in the country.