Photo from UNIAN

The Security Service of Ukraine is set to summon for questioning the vicar of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed), according to the SBU press secretary Olena Hitlyanska.

“This is planned to be done in the coming days,” Hitlyanska told UNIAN in response to a corresponding question on whether the agency intends to question Pavel, who is part of the church formerly called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The vicar will be summoned as a witness in a criminal proceeding launched under Part 2 Art. 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability, and other grounds).

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As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 30, law enforcers searched Pavel's home near Kyiv.

According to a Kyiv region's National Police Department official, Mykola Zhukovych, the team seized all items necessary for further investigative actions against Pavel.

Ahead of the Unification Council Dec 15, the SBU said they had revealed plans of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), to set up bloody provocations against the background of the historical event.

Provocations were to be orchestrated precisely by Metropolitan Pavel, the report noted.