Press Secretary of the Russian dictator Dmitry Peskov stated that the decision of Ukrainian authorities not to renew the lease of the territory of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra for representatives of the UOC-MP "justifies the military operation in Ukraine."
Peskov said this during a conversation with journalists on March 17, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.
"The Kyiv regime yet again demonstrates its nature by these illegal actions, encroachments on the Church. The nature that we are fighting with, the very nature that we must suppress through the operation that is ongoing. This again proves and shows that everything we are doing is absolutely right," the dictator's representative said.
Putin's representative was also outraged that the Ukrainian government's decision regarding the state-owned nature reserve did not receive sufficient condemnation from the international community.
For reference: The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Nature Reserve is a state-owned property, but its religious buildings and other properties have been used by the UOC-MP free of charge for decades. However, in March, the Reserve announced that the agreement made in 2013 regarding the free use of churches by a religious organization will be terminated, and the UOC-MP must vacate the territory by March 29. A commission working in the lower Lavra for the past two months discovered violations of the terms of the agreement on the use of monuments.
In particular, the Vicar of the Lavra, Metropolitan Pavlo Lebed, built 36 structures on its territory that were not coordinated with the state, including his own mansion, and developed multidisciplinary commercial activities.