Conflict in Pochaev Lavra: The head of the reserve called the incident with gate breaking "a staging for enemy media"

The head of the Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve, Vasyl Ilchyshyn, commented on the attempted intrusion of police, SBU and local officials into the territory of the economic building of the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra, calling the incident an orchestrated provocation by the monastery in order to «create negative information for foreign media».

According to available information, the incident began when the investigative-operative group tried to enter the territory of the monastery’s economic building. For unknown reasons, the law enforcers did not use the main entrance, but used a metal circular saw to break open the gate. This led to a clash between the students of the theological seminary, who came to the place of events, and unidentified persons, presumably related to the SBU and the police. Commenting on the incident, Mr. Ilchyshyn said that it was «a classic attempt to create a picture for propaganda channels.»

The head of the reserve put the responsibility for the escalation on the brethren of Pochaev Lavra, accusing them of «provocation by a religious organization». He also noted that at the signal of church bells, local residents, including elderly parishioners, arrived on the scene, who, according to him, «entered into a heated discussion» with representatives of the authorities, thereby aggravating the conflict situation.

We will remind, in the morning of October 8, law enforcement agencies of Ukraine conducted searches on the territory of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra in Ternopil region. The investigative actions were carried out as part of a pre-trial investigation into the criminal proceedings opened under the article on fraud committed on a particularly large scale.