US Congress presents bill on sanctions over Russia's "war against faith"

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has thanked a group of US lawmakers for introducing a bipartisan bill aimed at countering Russia's war against religious freedom.

Source: Sybiha on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sybiha said the adoption of such legislation has been long overdue.

Quote: "Russia must be held accountable for its systematic assault on religious freedom. Across Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories, Russia persecutes and murders clergy, destroys churches, bans entire faith communities and weaponises religion to impose fear and control."

Details: The bill, titled Countering Russia's War On Faith Act, was introduced by Republican lawmakers Joe Wilson, Brian Fitzpatrick and Don Bacon, alongside Democrats Steve Cohen, Marcy Kaptur and Mike Quigley. A companion bill was also submitted to the Senate by Republican John Kennedy and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.

The bipartisan initiative requires the US secretary of state and secretary of defense to jointly report on Russia's actions targeting religious communities in Ukraine and temporarily occupied territories.

It also obliges the US president to impose sanctions on foreign individuals found to have participated in such activities.

Previously: Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, more than 600 religious sites, including churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship, have been damaged or destroyed, and more than 50 clergy members have been killed. Protestant, Catholic, Crimean Tatar and non-Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox communities have faced raids, forced re-registration and criminal prosecution.

The Russian Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Kirill, has publicly described the invasion as a "holy war", providing ideological justification for religious repression in occupied territories.

Background:

• On 17 April, the US lifted sanctions restrictions on the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels for 30 days, despite earlier public assurances that the licences would not be renewed.
• Bessent explained that the earlier decision to extend limited sanctions relief for Russia followed requests from "vulnerable" countries during meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.

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