On May 24, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy issued the decree to establish a commission to check the preservation status of state property within the Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve.
The text of the decree was published on the ministry's website, LB.UA reports.
Acting Minister of Culture Rostyslav Karandeyev instructed the commission to inspect the preservation state of the immovable property of the reserve from June 3 to June 29. This property was transferred for free use to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in December 2003, specifically referring to the complex of buildings of the Pochayiv Lavra.
The commission includes:
- Olha Rutkovska, Head of the Department for Coordination of Cultural Institutions Activities, Department of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture (head of the commission),
- Vasyl Ilchyshyn, Director of the Kremenets-Pochayiv Reserve,
- Ihor Derevinsky, Deputy Director of the Kremenets-Pochayiv Reserve,
- Vitaliy Hmyrya, a representative of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) in Ternopil region,
- Olha Derevinska, an employee of the reserve,
- Oksana Dyachok, a professor at the Western Ukrainian National University,
- Tetyana Romashko, a leading specialist of the property department of the Ministry of Culture,
- Nataliya Sobkovych, an employee of the cultural department of the Ternopil Regional State Administration.
In March 2023, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve terminated its agreement for the free use of the property with the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. In August, the Commercial Court of Kyiv recognized the reserve’s decision to terminate this agreement as lawful.
Numerous incidents and clashes with supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) have occurred during previous inspections conducted by the Ministry of Culture’s commission.