Lavra brethren file a statement with SBI against Minister of Culture

Mykola Tochitsky. Photo: the Ministry of Culture website

On May 26, 2025, the General Investigation Bureau of Kyiv received a statement from the brethren of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra regarding a criminal offense committed by the Minister of Culture, Mykola Tochitsky, reported the monastery's lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

The statement indicates that, according to the claim, Tochitsky committed an offense under Part 2 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely incitement of religious hatred committed by an official. The brethren assert that the minister committed the offense in a comment on his order dismissing Maksym Ostapenko from the position of General Director of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra".

As reported, Tochitsky stated that he dismissed Ostapenko due to insufficient efforts in the Lavra against the UOC. In doing so, he used offensive language. In particular, speaking about the monks of the UOC, he wrote that "there should be no Moscow spirit in the Lavra," that "Moscow priests have desecrated the Lavra," and that the country does not have time to wait for the "uncontrolled presence of Moscow monks and further destruction of monuments" to end.

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