UOC bishop: Tkachenko's demands to Lavra are PR against threat of dismissal

Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko wants to make cheap PR for himself by demanding that the Monastery vacate the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra within three days, said Metropolitan Clement, head of the UOC Information Department.

The clergyman linked such a statement by the head of the Ministry of Culture to the petition "On the Dismissal of Tkachenko", which collected more than 25,000 votes on the Cabinet's website.

"It is obvious that the minister is once again misleading the public. It all looks like a desire to make cheap PR on the background of the threat of his dismissal because the petition on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers "On the Dismissal of Tkachenko" has won more than the required number of votes. Most likely, such statements will become the culture minister's 'swan song'," he said.

The UOC bishop pointed out that all the actions of the Monastery were and are being carried out exclusively in the legal field.

Metropolitan Clement also stressed that all those who live on the territory of the monastery are convinced of their legal rights: "The legal rightness of monks and those who support the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is obvious to anyone. But we see statements and actions by state institutions, such as the Ministry of Culture, which ignore not only the law of Ukraine but also the Constitution and a number of international norms related to the observance of rights and freedoms".

As reported, Tkachenko demanded that the UOC vacate the Lavra within three days.