Safety comes first, Avakov blocks movement of sacred procession in Kyiv

Ukrainian Interior Ministry has blocked movement of the sacred procession along the streets of Kyiv.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov posted this on his Facebook page.

“The Interior Ministry has blocked movement of the sacred procession in Kyiv by means of the National Police and the National Guard. Safety is above any religious rituals,” he wrote.

The Minister explained that amid current situation, he, as the Interior Minister, is not guided by the categories of religious rituals, but the acts in the accordance with the “supreme categories of public safety.”

“That is why, today, after receiving relevant information, I gave the order to step into the arrangements announced by organizers concerning the movement along the streets of Kyiv, in order to prevent any possible terrorist threats and provocations around the procession of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate,” he wrote.

As reported, the all-Ukrainian sacred procession started from two sites – the town of Svyatogorsk in Donetsk region on July 3 and the Pochaev Lavra in Ternopil region on July 9.

According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defenсe Ministry of Ukraine, the Russian security services plan to use the sacred procession of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in order to organize provocations.

Earlier on July 26, protesters did not let the procession in the town of Boryspil, Kyiv region.

The procession organizers decided to bypass Boryspil and went directly to Kyiv.