UOC MP says they are expecting "provocateurs" with cameras
After obstructing the work of journalists and of the Commission for the reception and handover of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to the state, the leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, urged people not to fall for the provocations of "specially trained individuals from among the radicals."
"Ukrainian Pravda" writes about this, citing the UOC MP press office.
"On March 31, at 10 a.m., the Commission is going to arrive at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to seal off the chapels. Provocateurs plan to visit together with the Commission. Specially trained individuals from among the radicals will be insulting and provoking believers to trigger aggression or unappropriate behavior. The provocateurs will record everything on video," the message reads.
The UOC MP forbade their parishioners to react or talk to the "provocateurs", because their apparent main goal is "to draw attention to themselves and trigger at least some kind of reaction to their actions."
As the IMI reported, on March 30, Metropolitan of the UOC MP Pavlo Lebid tried to knock the microphone out of the hand of "Espreso" correspondent Valeria Pashko while speaking to journalists at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Also, a UOC MP priest shoved Suspilne correspondent Daria Nematian Zolbin as she tried to ask Metropolitan Pavlo a question, and broke the camera mount of cameraman Viktor Mozgovy.
A person in a cassock damaged the phone charger cable of "Telegraf" photoreporter Yan Dobronosov in the jostling at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, involving UOC MP Metropolitan Pavlo Lebid.
On the same day, March 30, 2023, Kyiv police opened a criminal case for obstructing journalistic work on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Help us be even more cool!
