UKRAINE: Kyiv Pechersk Lavra conflict, draft law, impact on freedom of religion or belief

The government revoked the 10-year-old agreement for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate) to rent the state-owned Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), claiming some constructions had been built on the site illegally. The UOC did not fully comply with the 29 March deadline to leave. The Lavra’s UOC abbot faces a criminal case and a court placed him under house arrest. The government backs a rival Orthodox jurisdiction. “In Ukraine, there will be only the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” a presidential aide declared.