The political scientist called the ban on access to the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra blasphemy.

The closure of access to the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is a demonstrative blasphemy on the part of the Ukrainian authorities. This was stated by Bogdan Bezpalko, a political scientist, member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, deputy director of the Center for Ukrainian and Belarusian Studies at Moscow State University, in an interview with Izvestia on April 2.

He noted that there is some material interest in this step, since the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is a tourist center and a center of Orthodox pilgrimage, which is always linked to certain financial flows.

"But otherwise, it's still evidence of superiority, evidence of a demonstration of one's power. This spiritual center is now subordinate to [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky, and now it is subordinate to the new Ukrainian authorities. They are the ones who now determine both the access and the status of these caves, this shrine of the Orthodox world," he said.

Bezpalko added that now the Ukrainian leadership will determine to what extent the shrines represent any value.

"This is a demonstrative blasphemy, a demonstrative anti—religious, anti-Orthodox act," the political scientist concluded.

On April 5, at 18:00, the REN TV channel will release a film dedicated to the situation with the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, "Tomb Desecrators: 5 Harbingers of Disaster."

Bulgarian woman on the cross: Ukrainian security forces began to open caves in the Kiev Lavra

In the future, DNA tests of the holy relics are planned.

The Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) announced the beginning of the seizure of the Nearby caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra on March 28. It was noted that police officers entered the closed premises of the monastery. One of the employees of the lavra was spotted on the territory with a saw "Bulgarian" in his hands. On March 6, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that a special commission would assess the condition and safety of the relics of saints in the Near and Far caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra.

Sergey Zasorin, Deputy Director of the Center for Regional Cooperation at Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPGU), Candidate of Historical Sciences, associate Professor, told Izvestia that the purpose of the raids in the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is to pocket priceless relics.