Less than half of Ukraine's religious groups granted critical status – Yelensky

The Head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, reported that today less than half of the religious organizations that actually operate in Ukraine have been granted the status of critical.

"Clergymen are being protected, or a deferral is being granted to those clergymen who belong to religious organizations that can be recognized as belonging to critical infrastructure. And there are criteria there. And these criteria do not include not only religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), but also religious communities that are not included in the list of non-profit organizations, or those where religious communities and organizations have not formalized their relations with the Tax Service, have not submitted tax reports," Yelensky said in an interview on the YouTube channel "VICHE."

He noted that today not even half of religious organizations have been recognized as critical, among those that actually operate in Ukraine.

"We recommend that religious organizations meet these criteria. That they do not belong to those organizations whose charters have lost their validity in terms of the name, that they be included in the list of non-profit organizations and that they submit financial statements," he added.

As reported, on December 26, the Cabinet of Ministers provided for the possibility of reserving clergymen of religious organizations in conditions of mobilization. It was established that clergymen are subject to reservation according to the list of positions approved by the State Policy. It was also determined that legal entities - religious organizations are not subject to the requirement for a salary of UAH 20,000, which is for critical enterprises, whose employees can receive military draft deferrals.

On February 5, the State Committee for Social Policy approved the criteria for determining a religious organization as critically important for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the life of the population in a special period, as well as the list of positions of military-liable clergymen subject to reservation for the period of mobilization and wartime.

On June 6, the State Committee for Social Policy approved a list of 7,726 legal entities - religious organizations that are critically important for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the life of the population in a special period.

As of the end of July, almost 2,300 clergymen-leaders of religious organizations had been reserved.

The State Committee for Social Policy intends to initiate opportunities for clergymen to stay for a long time outside Ukraine to carry out pastoral activities among Ukrainian refugees.