Insider: The police are told to maximally obstruct journey to the Lavra

Law enforcement officers who serve at checkpoints were instructed to make it hard for the UOC believers to come to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. This became known from the correspondence in a closed chat, which is published on social networks.

In particular, all buses that deliver UOC believers to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra from the regions will be checked for theft, as well as the presence of explosive objects, ammunition and weapons.

The police were also ordered to check the parishioners of the Church themselves “on tablets in all bases and whether they have documents.”

“We need to carry out the work in such a way that they no longer have the desire to go to the Lavra! <...> Report all cases related to the displacement of believers immediately to this group,” the author of the message noted.

At the same time, law enforcement officers will also check buses with minor children: “A bus that transports exclusively young children, even if it goes on an excursion to the Lavra, should be checked superficially, without creating precedents and conflict situations.”

At the same time, Archbishop Iona (Cherepanov) of Obukhiv said that the SBU had already begun to block the departure of buses to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra from the regions.

“In one of the Western Ukrainian cities, the SBU blocked the departure of pilgrims to the Lavra. The bus had already been hired but not allowed to go,” the hierarch wrote in a comment to the publication.

As the UOJ reported, Metropolitan Pavel urged the believers of the UOC to come to the Lavra in order to protect the monastery from seizure with the help of prayer.

The UOJ also wrote that the UOC is being expelled from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.