All talks about moving Rabbi Nachman's grave are manipulation and provocation, - Mayor of Uman

This was stated by the Mayor of Uman, Oleksandr Tsebriy, in the live show "Details of the Day" on ZIK TV channel.

"We are going through a difficult period, the period of the coronavirus pandemic, so the residents of Uman have raised the issue, and I have also brought it at the highest level to exclude the arrival (of Hasidic pilgrims. - Ed.) this year, the year of the coronavirus pandemic, people from the red zone. This does not apply to representatives of a particular nation or religion. This applies specifically to COVID-19. Pandemic is raging all over the world, so we must do everything to protect ourselves. And the issue of transfer... You know the commandment of Rabbi Nachman - he bequeathed that he was buried here, and his followers came to him, so this is not a question for the Mayor, this is not even a question for the residents of the city of Uman. I believe that this is manipulation and provocation. This issue should be resolved on a completely different level, but there is a will of the person who is buried in the city of Uman," Olekdansr Tsebriy said.

The mayor also informed that currently, about 2.5 thousand Hasidim have arrived in Uman, ten of them were diagnosed with coronavirus.

The talks about the possible transfer of the grave of tzaddik Nachman to Israel have been going on for a long time. Thus, in 2017, Israeli Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotoveli instructed to start negotiations with the Ukrainian authorities on the possibility of transferring the remnants of Rabbi Nachman from Uman to Israel. However, as early as in 2011, the city authorities of Uman ruled out the possibility of such a transfer.