Kremlin responds to searches at Kyiv monastery

Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, has announced that searches at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves) show that Ukraine is at war with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Quote from Peskov: "In fact, the Ukrainian side has long been at war with the Russian Orthodox Church, and I would say that this should be considered another link in the chain of these hostilities against Russian Orthodoxy."

Background:

• On the morning of 22 November, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) conducted a counterintelligence operation at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of the Holy Dormition, a monastery in Kyiv.
• The SSU said these measures were being undertaken jointly with the National Police and the National Guards as part of the SSU’s systematic efforts to counter subversive activities by Russian secret services in Ukraine.
• In addition to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the SSU visited a monastery in Rivne Oblast to look for sabotage and reconnaissance groups and weapons.
• Earlier, prayers were said for Russia at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Vasyl Maliuk, Head of the SSU, reported that the evidence was already being studied by the SSU.
• The SSU then opened a criminal case with respect to the expression of Russian propaganda at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

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