Russia demands from the Ukrainian authorities the immediate release of Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, who is under house arrest by court order. This was expressed in the statement published on the website of the Grand Ambassador of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gennady Askaldovich, Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for cooperation in the field of ensuring the right to freedom of religion. Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
“We demand the immediate release of Metropolitan Pavel and the provision of appropriate medical attention to him,” the special representative said in a statement.
According to Askaldovich, despite the calls of the Russian side, the leaders of international organizations ignore the situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
According to him, Kiev continues to “insist on defending the UOC’s flawed view of its place and role in the life of the country”, and with apparent displeasure they have even accepted the UN human rights monitoring mission’s call to end discrimination. canonical church.
The Great Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that they were outraged by “another act of rude arbitrariness against the UOC” in Russia and worried about the fate of the priests and priests of the Lavra. The fate of Metropolitan Pavel.
Against this background, he described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks that Ukraine is the country of greatest religious freedom as the height of cynicism.
On April 1, a Kiev court ordered Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed) preventive measures in the form of house arrest for two months and a ban on addressing believers. The cleric is suspected of inciting inter-religious hatred, possibly because of his critical remarks about Ukraine’s schismatic Orthodox Church. Pavel himself thinks lawsuit was filed against him.