A crowd of people wearing balaclavas on Sunday, April 2, tried to get into the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

According to preliminary data, the police prevented them from entering the monastery.

The day before, opponents of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) staged dances around a worshiper praying on her knees at the entrance to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

On March 31, a group of radical men appeared on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The nationalists shouted insults at the believers, provoking a crowd located near the walls of the monastery.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on April 1 that in Ukraine, in front of the eyes of the whole world, “Orthodoxy is being raped,” while the entire “civilized West” continues to remain silent and does not even try to defend human rights and religious freedom.

A day earlier, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Geneva Headquarters, Gennady Gatilov, said that the rights of believers are being violated in Ukraine. He stressed that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) sees “FSB majors in cassocks” in the clergy of the UOC, and “Kremlin agents” in the parishioners. This is used to carry out «persecution of Orthodox believers, to justify acts of vandalism, raider seizures of churches and property.»

The conflict between the Ukrainian authorities and the UOC developed after a warning was published on the website of the monastery on March 10, signed by acting. General Director of the National Reserve «Kiev-Pechersk Lavra» Alexander Rudnik that the monks of the Lavra must leave the monastery before March 29, 2023.

On March 23, the UOC appealed to believers with an appeal to defend the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by all legal means. The monastery was cordoned off by the Ukrainian police.

On the day the Kyiv regime’s ultimatum expired, hundreds of parishioners came to the church. About 200 people gathered outside the temple.

The reason for the closure of part of the monastery was the alleged violations. Last November, as a result of searches on the territory of the Lavra, the Security Service of Ukraine found pro-Russian literature. After that, it became known that the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was registered as a monastery as part of the OCU.