UOC not against property inventory at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, asks why it's necessary after 30-year absence
KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) considers the property inventory currently underway at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Kyiv Monastery of the Caves) legal but says it is not clear why the authorities have decided to do so now for the first time in decades.
"In accordance with the Culture Ministry's resolution, the reserve's commission is carrying out an inventory of the property given to the Lavra to use. This is their property, and they have every right to check how the Lavra has been using it," the UOC's chief lawyer, Alexander Bakhov, told Interfax on Thursday.
"There's a different question: why have they decided to check it now, for the first time in the past 30 years?" he said.
He declined to comment further, saying that the commission has not yet completed its work.