The Kremlin commented on the situation around the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

The Kremlin is concerned about the deteriorating situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the demand of the Ukrainian authorities for the monks to leave the territory of the monastery. This was stated by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

“Calls. This is an absolutely unprecedented attitude towards representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. We consider this unacceptable. We believe that the world community should respond appropriately to such an outrageous decision,” he said, answering the question of whether such a situation causes concern in the Kremlin.

On March 10, the leadership of the national reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” obligated representatives of the UOC to leave the territory and buildings of the Lavra until March 29 due to the termination of the contract. This was reported in the warning of the acting general director of the reserve Alexander Rudnik, which was published on the website of the Lavra, but was later deleted.

The letter said that since 2013, an agreement was concluded between the administration of the reserve and the male monastery of the UOC (MP) of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on the free use of religious buildings and other property. The mine also refers to the conclusions of the interdepartmental working group and the letter of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine dated March 9: they believe that the monastery violated the conditions for the use of state property.

After that, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill addressed to the secretaries general of the UN and the OSCE António Guterres and Helga Maria Schmid, Pope Francis and other international and religious organizations with a request to prevent the forced closure of the monastery, which will lead to a violation of the rights of believers to freedom of religion, guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and etc.