Pro-Russian oligarchs are luring Ukrainians abroad into religious groups, according to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Pro-Russian oligarchs who fled Ukraine are attempting to lure Ukrainian emigrants to "their side" by drawing them into pseudo-religious groups.

This was reported by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in an interview with RBK-Ukraine.

According to the head of the UGCC, the attempts of Moscow's Orthodoxy to influence the stance of Ukrainian emigrants are felt differently across various European countries. Germany, in particular, has been vocal about this issue.

"Pro-Russian oligarchs have fled to Ukraine. With Russian money, they are creating a parallel Ukrainian community there, attempting to entice, among others, Russian-speaking Ukrainians. They are trying to utilize priests from the Moscow Church in Ukraine who visit these social centers to establish centers of religious life specifically to attract people," Sviatoslav explained.

He added that the enemy's attempts are quite straightforward - to build a protest potential out of Ukrainian emigrants, who will ultimately speak out against the policies of their own country and call for "peace throughout the world" in the context of the "Russian world."

Ban on Religious Organizations Linked to Russia

In October 2023, the Verkhovna Rada voted in the first reading for Bill No. 8371, which bans religious organizations that have ties to the Russian Federation (RF). In March 2024, the Committee recommended that the parliament support the document in its second reading.

Opponents of the initiative were actively campaigning against it in the West at that time.

Ultimately, the bill was passed on August 20, and it came into effect on September 23. For more details on what the law changed, see the RBK-Ukraine article "The law banning the Russian Orthodox Church has come into effect. What now awaits the Moscow Patriarchate?"