Cabinet of Ministers hands OCU's cathedral in Simferopol to Ukraine

Sts. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr and Princess Olga’s Cathedral of the OCU has been transferred from the ownership of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to the state ownership of Ukraine, reports the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories.

On 28 October 2022, the relevant decree was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

According to the press service of the Reintegration Ministry, "the decision gives an opportunity to protect the violated rights of the OCU community on the Crimean Peninsula. The cathedral will be transferred to the Crimean Eparchy of the OCU for free use; after the peninsula is deoccupied, it will be returned to the Church".

"The resolution was adopted in pursuance of the Parliament’s decision, namely – the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ‘On Some Issues of Protection of the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion of Believers of the Crimean Eparchy of the OCU and Preservation of the Premises of the Sts. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr and Princess Olga’s Cathedral’. It was initiated and developed by the Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine. The resolution was a response to the actions of the occupation authorities of the Russian Federation regarding the ‘transfer"’ of the mentioned property complex to its illegal authorities," the ministry added.

Earlier, the Arbitration Court of the Central District (Kaluga, Russia) issued a final ruling in the case of the OCU cathedral building in the name of Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr and Princess Olga in central Simferopol. The court dismissed the OCU's appeal and ordered to return the building to the Russian Ministry of Property and Land Relations of Crimea, as the lease agreement for the premises had been terminated by the court.

As reported, the Rada ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to transfer the Crimean cathedral to the state property of Ukraine.

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