Ukraine's Demands for UOC Monks to Leave Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Causing Concern: Kremlin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine's demands for monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate to leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are a matter of concern, and the world community should respond accordingly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"It causes [concern]. This is an absolutely unprecedented attitude toward representatives of the church, the Russian Orthodox Church. We consider this unacceptable. We believe that the world community should respond appropriately to such an outrageous decision," Peskov told reporters when asked whether the deteriorating situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is causing concern.

Until the end of 2022, jurisdiction over the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra had been divided between Ukraine's National Kiev-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve and the UOC. On Friday, the National Kiev-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve ordered the monks of the UOC to leave the site before March 29 after an interdepartmental commission registered a violation by the monastery of the terms of the agreement on the use of state property. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' addressed religious leaders and international figures with a message about the situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and called the decision by Ukrainian officials to expel the UOC monks repressive.

In the wake of the military operation that Russia launched in Ukraine a year ago, the UOC said that it was independent from the Moscow Patriarchate and did not support the military conflict. In January, the Ukrainian government submitted to the country's parliament a bill that will ban the UOC in Ukraine if its connection with Russia is proven.