Kiev court refuses to side with Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra monks in dispute with state

MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - A court in Kiev has upheld the legality of a unilateral termination by the state of a lease on buildings in the grounds of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra monastery with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

"The court ruled that a claim by the Holy Dormition Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra against the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra national reserve should be denied satisfaction," Ukrainian media reported on Thursday evening.

The lease contract was terminated on Wednesday. The UOC said the termination was illegal and insisted that the matter be resolved in court, the first hearing of which is due on April 26. However, the authorities chose not to wait for that day and proceeded to alienate the buildings as early as March 30.

Ukraine's Culture Minister Alexander Tkachenko was quoted by the media as saying that the government had "just" declared invalid government directive No. 519 of July 11, 2014, when Viktor Yanukovich was Ukraine's president, which transferred free use of the monastery's buildings and structures to the UOC.