Ukraine's National Defence Secretary on eviction of UOC-MP from Lavra Monastery: There will be no violence, but we will fulfill decisions

Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, has stated that the authorities will not use any force against the priests and monks of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, but will act in accordance with the adopted legal acts.

Source: Danilov in an interview with Radio Liberty

Quote: "What concerns the church is an old story. Of course, there will be no use of physical force or violence. We are not the Russian Federation. But we will definitely take what is ours, taking into account the regulations that are in place on our territory.

On the other hand, it [the monastery] is used by representatives of the 5th and 1st departments of the FSB of the Russian Federation, who are directly present in a certain number in this environment...

We do not stand against the church. We are not opposing those people who are involved in specific religious processes. But we stand against the influence of these things on the state. You have no right to dictate things to the state, you have no right to hold the state hostage."

Previously: The monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said that they do not intend to move out of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Background: 

• On 10 March, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve notified the UOC-MP monastery that the 10-year-old agreement (of 19 July 2013) on the free use of religious buildings and other state-owned property would be terminated on 29 March 2023.
  
  
• The warning included a demand to vacate the buildings at 11 Lavrska Street and 15 Lavrska Street in Kyiv.
  
  
• The UOC-MP stated that there are no legal grounds for this and that the eviction of its monastery from the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves is simply "a whim of officials from the Ministry of Culture."
  
  
• Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information Policy, has said that monks and priests from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) must vacate all premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv) by the end of March.
  
  
• In 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) conducted dozens of searches in various buildings of the UOC-MP, including the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves.
  
  
• As of 23 February 2023, the SSU was investigating nearly 60 criminal proceedings against pro-Russian clergy of the UOC-MP, and more than 350 church buildings and 850 people were subject to in-depth inspections. The courts handed down 7 guilty verdicts.

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