Monks of the Kyiv Cave Monastery file a complaint with the State Bureau of Investigation regarding the statements of the head of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

The brethren of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra have filed a collective complaint with the State Bureau of Investigation against the head of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, Mykola Tochytskyi. The official is accused of inciting religious hatred against the monastery’s residents. This was reported by the lawyer of the Lavra, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

«On May 26, 2025, representatives of the Holy Dormition Lavra sent a statement to the State Bureau of Investigation located in Kyiv about the commission of a criminal offense by the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine Nikolai Tochitsky. The criminal offense is stipulated by Part 2 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely, incitement to religious hatred committed by an official, which he committed while commenting on his own order “On dismissal” from the post of General Director of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”, Maxim Ostapenko,» — said Nikita Chekman.

Earlier, we reported that the police banned the entry of vehicles with food for the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the territory of the Kyiv Cave Monastery. Thus, the monks living on the territory of the Lavra were left without full access to food and other vital household items.