MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. Plans to relocate religious relics from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery to the West make it clear that Ukraine is looked upon as a colony, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

"It’s a tradition for colonial powers to behave like bandits toward the national and cultural heritages of the countries they view as their colonies. Undoubtedly, they consider Ukraine to be their colony, not just their fiefdom," she pointed out.

According to Zakharova, stealing national valuables is typical of the West’s dealings with diverse regions around the world, and Western museums have turned into "repositories for stolen items."

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said earlier that the Kiev authorities and UNESCO officials had reached an agreement to relocate Christian relics from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to museums in the Vatican, Germany, Italy and France, citing the need "to save them from Russian missile attacks." According to the SVR, an inventory of church property has been taken and funds have been allocated to transport the items to Europe. Special motor vehicles have been prepared, some of which are equipped with refrigerated climate-controlled units.