30 March 2023, Thursday, 20:26 182

Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Files Complaint With Police Due To Obstruction By UOC MP Access To State Property

Редактор: Даша Зубкова

The commission of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy for the acceptance and transfer of state property of the National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra could not start work on Thursday, March 30, due to obstacles from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP), the reserve filed a report with the police. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"On March 30, the Commission for the acceptance and transfer of state property of the National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was unable to start work due to illegal obstruction of access to state property. On this day, the procedure for transferring state property from the use of the monastery to the reserve, as a balance-keeper of the property, was supposed to begin. It is about 79 buildings," the message says.

It is noted that when trying to inspect one of the premises, the commission was unable to enter the building because it was closed.

"Representatives of the Monastery from the Holy Assumption Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, who are part of the commission, could not explain who has the keys to the building. Also, about 100 people prevented the members of the commission from entering the building. The commission drew up a corresponding report on this," the ministry reports.

It is also noted that the monastery withdrawn from the commission the economist of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Archimandrite Zinon (Oleh Marchenko), the head of the department of control over public works, Archpriest Heorhii (Yurii Kabashnyi) and chief engineer Mykola Halavatskyi.

"Currently, the National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra has submitted a statement to the Pecherskyi Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv. In fact, there has actually been an illegal obstruction of access to state property," the report says.

The reserve asks to launch a criminal case on the grounds of the crime provided for in Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position) and take measures to eliminate obstacles in the use of property that is state property.

The Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko noted in the Telegram channel that the brutal behavior of the representatives of the UOC MP towards the representatives of the commission is deeply inconsistent with their appeals to God, and assured that tomorrow the commission will continue its work in any case.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the believers of the UOC MP did not let the commission of the Ministry of Culture into the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

The National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra terminated the contract of free use of the men's monastery with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the representatives of the UOC MP had to leave the territory of the monastery by March 29.

On the morning of March 30, the UOC MP held a service in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, despite the fact that it was supposed to vacate the building on March 29.