Ukraine's SBU security service and police raided a 1,000-year-old Orthodox Christian monastery in Kyiv early on Tuesday as part of operations to counter suspected "subversive activities by Russian special services", the SBU said, APA reports citing Reuters.
The sprawling Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex that was raided is a Ukrainian cultural treasure and the headquarters of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church known as the Moscow Patriarchate.
"These measures are being taken ... as part of the systemic work of the SBU to counter the destructive activities of Russian special services in Ukraine," the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement.
It said the search was aimed at preventing the use of the cave monastery as "the centre of the Russian world" and carried out to look into suspicions "about the use of the premises ... for sheltering sabotage and reconnaissance groups, foreign citizens, weapons storage".
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