A new structure created for Yurash and his team at the Cabinet of Ministers

An old Yurash-led team in a new structure of the Cabinet of Ministers for religion. Photo: Yurash's Facebook page

A subdivision to deal with issues of religions and nationalities has been created within the structure of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Andrei Yurash joined this structure along with employees of the recently disbanded Department for Religious Affairs and Nationalities, the official said on his Facebook page.

“This became possible thanks to the deep and sincere desire of the entire leadership of the current Cabinet of Ministers and the SCMU, in particular, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal, as well as the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Oleg Nemchinov and State Secretary of the SCMU Alexander Yarema to make a conscious and significant emphasis on this segment of objective obligations of the state,” Yurash wrote.

The official noted that in comparison with the old Department, the created structure is “a new height and new opportunities, and at the same time – new tools that will help <...> guarantee every religious and ethno-confessional community of our state the right to free self-expression and create all opportunities for even more complete development of a unique self-identity."

Yurash noted the importance of retaining the team of the liquidated Department, thanks to which “an obvious breakthrough was achieved in previous years and whose experience and knowledge are indispensable in modern conditions, when the whole sphere is confronted with so many challenges that have arisen in the country.”

As the UOJ reported, while the Department was being closed, Yurash listed "impressive breakthroughs" and achievements, among which he especially noted the role of the unit headed by him by the creation of the OCU.

Recall that Andrei Yurash claimed the position of head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, created to replace the abolished Department for Religious Affairs and Nationalities, but lost, as he put it, "because of the order of Putin and the Moscow Patriarchate". Elena Bogdan took the post back in February 2020.

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