Culinary program at Lavra's producer blames UOC for scandal around the show

Galimov at the Lavra. Photo: Screenshot from the Real History YouTube channel

The producer and creator of the Real History media project, Akym Galimov, who invited chef Klopotenko to film at the Refectory Church of the Lavra, believes that the public uproar over the show was orchestrated by the UOC. He expressed this opinion during a broadcast on "1+1".

"The issue is simply that, as you know, last year the Moscow Patriarchate was expelled from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, and naturally, these forces are constantly trying to stir up scandals in the public discourse because they just want to come back," Galimov said. According to him, UOC supporters "used specific Telegram channels to spread messages saying, 'Look, a culinary show is being filmed in the Lavra – how can this be?'"

Host Yehor Hordeyev countered Galimov, pointing out that those upset by the culinary show include individuals who, as he knows for sure, "have no connection to the Moscow Patriarchate or Russia." When Hordeyev asked Galimov to explain this phenomenon, the producer failed to provide a clear answer and instead blamed Russia, saying that "they simply cannot accept that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra now represents Ukrainian history, and Ukrainians are filming their historical projects there."

"Why do our people support this? Why do some start repeating and expressing outrage as well? In my opinion, it’s simply because people don’t understand the situation," Galimov asserted, adding that he saw nothing offensive in filming a culinary show at the Refectory Church.

The hosts of "1+1" supported the producer. Hordeyev stated that people who "don’t understand the situation" and criticize the filming at the Lavra are actually "spreading misinformation and thus creating division in society."

Hordeyev attributed the issue to excessive conservatism in Ukrainian society.

"We don’t talk about this much, but many of the values we criticize as being Russian are also present here. In this secular state, I think that Moscow clerics have done far more blasphemous things in the Refectory than what happened in this episode," the "1+1" host concluded.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the RCC bishop had called the Lavra show a "revival of communism".

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