Investigators from the Center for Countering Extremism in Simferopol forced the abbot of the monastery of Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the village of Balky, Bilohirsk District, to stop the morning religious rites. This was reported by the the Voice of Crimea media agency.
“The abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Damian, was forced to stop the morning religious rites. The so-called servicemen explained their actions by the fact that the parson of the church is carrying out allegedly illegal actions, conducting a prayer in a building in violation of Russian legislation. They acted according to the decision of the so-called Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Crimea”,- the message said.
Metropolitan Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the OCU reported that conducting the religious rites was forbidden, everyone was forced to go out into the courtyard of the monastery the protocols were drawn up.