Russian police oust nuns from convent, citing health, safety fears

A group of nuns has been barred from their central Russian convent due to a series of fire safety and health code violations that resulted in a police raid on Wednesday.

Videos of the operation showed how dozens of women holding crosses were forcibly removed from the building, which is set near the city of Yekaterinburg.

The regional governor said they will be relocated to hotels and other shelters.

The convent has been in the headlines multiple times.

In December, its confessor, known as Sergei, was detained in the wake of him publishing a video in which the one-time monk called for people to “die for Russia.’’ A court ruled that as a call for suicide.

The former monk had said that the coronavirus is a “pseudo pandemic’’ and had insisted on continuing to offer church services in spite of the pandemic restrictions.

Several nuns were injured when he was arrested in December.