The Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Crimea has reported that on 13 August, the grave of the Righteous Esender, a Muslim shrine known as Kiarly Azyz, was desecrated

Horokhiv police officers detained five men and held them in a police station for five hours, insulting them, taking their fingerprints. If this were not enough, the head of the police station even tried to hit one of them.

7 years after beginning the procedure for getting building permission for the Mosque the Crimean Muslims have received the State Act of entitlement to indefinite use of a land site on the outskirts of Simferopol

The supposed apocalyptic threat to Ukraine of western sexual morality, children’s rights and homosexuality and need for Russian Orthodoxy expounded at a Parents’ Forum in Kyiv could be ignored were it not for the central location and endorsement from Ukraine’s Minister of Education

Displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy does not breach the rights of non-Catholic families, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled

On Tuesday the Simferopol City Council gave its consent for the preparation of a plan for transferring a land site to the Spiritual Directorate of Crimean Muslims in order to build a Soborna or Assembly Mosque

According to the Ukrainian Association for Religious Freedom during Viktor Yanukovych’s first year as President, observance of freedom of faith has noticeably decreased

The Heads of Ukrainian Churches and Religious Organizations have sent an appeal to the Ministries of Culture and Justice asking for proper public discussion of the draft Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations

A roundtable on Dialogue between the Authorities and Faiths within the Context of a European Value System has reiterated the need for dialogue, a single body on religious affairs and immense care and consultation with any legislative moves

The Council is concerned that the abolition of the State Committee of Ukraine on Nationalities and Religions and transfer of its functions to other authorities would jeopardize social harmony and Church-State dialogue

The memorial plaque erected in 2005 was removed from the wall of what was once the Kharkiv prison where in the 1960s the Patriarch, a prisoner of conscience for 18 years, was held on his way to Siberia

Two National Deputies from the Party of the Regions are proposing to waive tax on the construction of the tallest cathedral in Europe which the Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate is undertaking in Kyiv

The consequences of any form of favouritism tend to be negative. The dangers, however, when one religious group is favoured above others by those in power, as is now happening in Ukraine, are incalculable.

The Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches of Ukraine believes that the lack of a proper note of protest from the Foreign Ministry over the deportation from Uzbekistan of Bishup Nesteruk could place other Ukrainians at threat of similar treatment

Under the radical restructuring set out by Presidential Decree, religious organizations will be registered by a newly created State Registration Service and all other functions will fall under the new Ministry of Culture. These changes clash with present legislation which religious organizations believe should not be changed

The Crimean authorities are once again trying to stop the building of the Soborna or Assembly Mosque in Simferopol

It asserts that Donetsk businessmen, together with representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate [UOC MP] tried to hold an unlawful “meeting of village residents” in order to formalize documents for transferring the Ascension Church to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate

A memorial plaque to Patriarch Joseph Slipy, erected in 2005 has been removed from the wall of what was once the Kharkiv prison where in the 1960s the Patriarch, a prisoner of conscience for 18 years, was imprisoned

The report on Ukraine found no major problems during this period although it commented that local officials at times took sides in disputes between religious organizations. The events at the end of July involving obstruction by traffic police of believers fall outside the reporting period.

The Ukrainian Association for Religious Freedom at a recent meeting pointed to a a worsening in relations between faiths. The reason for this was seen as being the special attitude to one particular Church demonstrated by those in power