RUSSIA - UKRAINE Church and people in Ukraine demand autonomy from Moscow - Asia News

by Nina Achmatova
Protests continue in Kiev against President Yaukovich’s renunciation on European integration dictated by the pressures of Russia. The patriarch of the Ukrainian Church of Kiev Filaret , sides with the protesters, and calls for unity and autocephaly .
(AsiaNews) - As street protests continue in Ukraine, not only the Ukrainian people claim integration with Europe and autonomy from Moscow , but also the local Orthodox Church, which has openly taken sides in favor of the protesters and appealed for the recognition of autocephaly [independence from other churches ]. Mobilized for almost 20 days, the popular protests initially called for the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union, which President Viktor Yanukovych has renounced, yielding to the pressure of Russia. As the days passed , however, amid police violence against protesters and behind the scenes manoeuvring of the president, who continues to wink at the Kremlin , the goal is now the resignation of the entire government.

It took Moscow several days to break its silence about the events taking place in Kiev. On December 2, President Vladimir Putin, criticized the nationalist character of the protest, which - he said - "looks more like a pogrom than a revolution." For Putin , the demonstrations in Kiev "have nothing to do with the relations between Ukraine and the EU" , but " were prepared ahead of the presidential elections of 2015 " to topple the " legitimate authorities " of the country , with " groups of well-trained militants".  A direct reference to the always dreaded " foreign intervention " , as in the case of the Orange Revolution of 2004.

Even the Russian Orthodox Church has been slow to comment on the situation in Ukraine, where the clergy took to the streets with people and , last November 30 , offered help and shelter to protesters in the Cathedral of St. Michael in Kiev. On 8 December , Patriarch Kirill launched an appeal for "peace " in Ukraine and that "it safeguard the spiritual unity of the Holy Rus', the unity of its Church." That of ' "unity" between the two neighboring nations is the same leitmotiv of Putin, the official media and also the belief of the majority of Russians: a survey recently conducted by the Levada Center showed that 61 % of respondents did not considers Ukraine a 'foreign state'. In fact, both the Kremlin and Danilovsky Monastery ( seat of the Patriarchate ) fear the loss of this unity.


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RUSSIA - UKRAINE Church and people in Ukraine demand autonomy from Moscow - Asia News