Russian bailiffs seized the cathedral of the Ukrainian Church in Crimea
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On May 11, Russian bailiffs in the annexed Crimea broke into the building of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This was reported by journalist Andrey Shchekun on Facebook.
Employees of the Russian Ministry of Property and Land Relations of Respublika Krym took part in the operation. The representatives of the department stated that they are “vacating the premises” in accordance with the law. As it is said, the church community did not reissue the documents for the use of the church in the Russian legal field.
In the Cathedral of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir and Olga in Simferopol, the community of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formerly part of the Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, conducts services.
In 2019, the authorities of the annexed Crimea demanded that believers vacate the cathedral building, referring to the expiration of the lease agreement. In August 2020, the European Court of Human Rights appealed to the Russian authorities to end the persecution of the Ukrainian Church in Crimea.
In October 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ordered to temporarily transfer the cathedral building and church property from the property of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to the state ownership of Ukraine, after which the Russian-controlled arbitration court terminated the lease agreement.
The Russian Ministry said that after the confiscation of the OCU, the cathedral will be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church to preserve the “purpose of the premises.”
The seizure of the church building in the annexed Crimea is taking place against the background of the eviction by the Ukrainian authorities of different levels of communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from cathedrals and monasteries. Moscow considers the UOC a part of the Russian Orthodox Church and sharply protests against such decisions.
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