UKRAINE RAIDS FAMED MONASTERY, PLACES OF WORSHIP IN SECURITY DRIVE
KYIV—Ukraine’s security service on Tuesday said it raided a historic Orthodox monastery in the capital Kyiv and at least three other centers of religion over suspected “activities” of Russian agents.
Located south of Kyiv’s city center, the 11th century Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is a Unesco World Heritage site and seat of a branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church that was formerly under Moscow’s jurisdiction.
It cut ties with Russia soon after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
The SBU security service said in a statement that “counterintelligence measures” were carried out as part of work to “counter the subversive activities of the Russian security services in Ukraine.”
The statement said Kyiv aimed to prevent the use of the site as a “center of the ‘Russian world’” and make sure that the premises were not used to hide “sabotage and intelligence groups” and to store weapons.
On Tuesday morning, a police car was parked outside the Lavra, its roof and glistening golden domes covered with snow, an AFP reporter saw.
Checking worshippers
Armed officers were seen carrying out ID checks and searching the bags of worshippers before letting them go inside.
A spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church called the raid an “act of intimidation” against Ukrainian believers.
Also on Tuesday, the SBU said in a separate statement that “security measures” were carried out at two monasteries and the local diocese in the region of Rivne in northwestern Ukraine.