MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. The possibility of evacuating the clergymen of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to Russia will depend on their decision, but Russia will not remain indifferent to their future, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
"If they are evicted from the Lavra, then everything will depend on their decision, what they will do next. However, of course, I have no doubt that no one in Russia will remain indifferent to their future, if necessary," he said when asked if any options were being considered for evacuating the clergymen from Ukraine if they were evicted from the Lavra.
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is one of the first monasteries in Russia and the oldest monastery on the territory of modern Ukraine. On March 10, the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Reserve announced the termination of the open-ended lease agreement with the UOC’s Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and instructed the monks to vacate the premises by March 30. Metropolitan Pavel, the governor of the Lavra, branded these actions as illegal and said that the monks refused to leave the monastery. On Wednesday morning, Deputy Director General for Research of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Reserve Konstantin Kraynik said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s clergymen have to leave the Lavra by 11:59 p.m. (same time as Moscow’s). Kliment, the chairman of the synodic information department at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, promised to make sure the Lavra clergymen would leave it neither in the coming days, nor at any other time due to the absence of legal grounds for such a decision. According to him, the forceful expulsion of the clergymen would testify to Ukraine’s non-compliance with religious rights.