Filaret: UOC will never go back to Moscow
The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate has said the Ukrainian church will never go back under the control of the Moscow Patriarchate. Patriarch Filaret told journalists in Kyiv on December 1 that the Russian Orthodox Church was “deceptive” on November 30 when it said he had written a letter to Russian Patriarch Kirill asking for forgiveness. The Moscow Patriarchate excommunicated Patriarch Filaret after he broke his Kyiv Patriarchate from Moscow in 1992. “They now want to call us again to talks on a return to the Moscow Patriarchate,” he said. “First of all, I want to tell the Moscow patriarch and the Russian bishops that the Ukrainian Church will never go back to the Moscow Patriarchate. Why is that? Because we have our own state. Don’t you see how deceptive Moscow is? One cannot trust them.” Patriarch Filaret added that in the letter, which was part of an exchange initiated by the Russian side, he wrote about a possible dialogue between the two Churches. However, he requested that the Moscow Patriarchate recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly as a precondition for such talks. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
NATO, EU referendums to be held soon
Ukraine will hold referendums in the near future on whether to seek NATO and European Union memberships, President Petro Poroshenko said. Mr. Poroshenko, a pro-Western leader whose country is fighting Russia-backed militants who seized parts of two eastern oblasts in 2014, made the remarks in a televised address on December 1. “We are fully sticking to our path toward European integration,” he said. “Have no doubt that referendums will be held in Ukraine in the very near foreseeable future on joining NATO… and on European Union membership,” he said. “I am convinced that the Ukrainian people will support my proposal.” Less than half of Ukrainians – 43 percent – back joining the 29-member military alliance, according to a survey released last week. But support has more than doubled since it stood at 20 percent in 2013, the year before Russia seized Crimea and fomented unrest in the east, where more than 10,200 people have been killed in the conflict since April 2014. Membership in the 28-member EU enjoys more support among Ukrainians – 56 percent – according to the survey. Mr. Poroshenko came to power after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed out by large protests and fled to Russia. The Euro-Maidan protests began in November 2013, after Mr. Yanukovych made a last-minute decision to scrap an Association Agreement with the EU under pressure from the Kremlin. The accord was signed in 2014 by President Poroshenko and came into force this year. Joining the EU or NATO requires support from existing members, and many EU and NATO countries are wary of taking in Ukraine or believe it will not be ready to join soon. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by AFP, UNIAN and Interfax)
December 25 now a public holiday
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a law declaring December 25 a public holiday. He made the move on November 29, nearly two weeks after Ukrainian lawmakers adopted the legislation officially recognizing the day celebrated by many Catholics and Protestants as Christmas Day. January 7, Christmas according to the Julian calendar, will remain a public holiday in majority Orthodox Ukraine. Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, described the vote in the Verkhovna Rada on November 16 as “historic,” saying it would allow Ukrainians to “distance ourselves from Moscow’s calendar and Russian imperial standards.” Kyiv and Moscow have been locked in a bitter feud since Russia occupied and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014. Moscow has also provided political, military and economic support to forces that gained control over parts of eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by UNIAN and gazeta.lviv.ua)
U.S. concerned about corruption in Ukraine
The U.S. State Department is raising “concerns” about signs that Ukraine may be backtracking on its commitment to fight corruption, jeopardizing support for Kyiv in the West. A campaign against public corruption through stepped up enforcement and reforms of the judicial system has been a key requirement for Ukraine to obtain loans and closer relations with the European Union, the United States and the International Monetary Fund. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement late on December 4 that “recent events – including the disruption of a high-level corruption investigation, the arrest of officials from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), and the seizure of sensitive NABU files – raise concerns about Ukraine’s commitment to fighting corruption.” Ms. Nauert’s statement apparently refers to the disruption last month of an advanced undercover operation investigating corruption in Ukraine’s Migration Service described on the website of NABU, an anticorruption agency set up recently in exchange for the EU’s relaxation of visa restrictions for Ukrainians in the Eurozone. The NABU said its investigation into allegations that the migration service took bribes to provide foreigners with Ukrainian citizenship, passports and residency permits began in April. NABU said it found one of the migration service’s deputies was a “leader of the criminal organization” taking bribes within the agency, and she offered to arrange to provide Ukrainian passports and residency permits to an embedded special agent for about $30,000 apiece. But when the undercover agent arrived at a scheduled November 29 meeting to provide the migration official with half the bribe money, he was arrested by officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), NABU said on its website, thus the operation “was disrupted.” Ms. Nauert said in the U.S. statement: “These actions appear to be part of an effort to undermine independent anti-corruption institutions that the United States and others have helped support. They undermine public trust and risk eroding international support for Ukraine.” (RFE/RL)
March supports impeachment law
Thousands of Ukrainian opposition activists rallied in central Kyiv on December 3, calling on Parliament to adopt legislation on presidential impeachment. Police said the demonstration organized by Mikheil Saakashvili’s Movement of New Forces party attracted 2,500 people, but local reports said about 5,000 people participated. Addressing the protest, Mr. Saakashvili urged Ukrainians to gather in Kyiv’s central Independence Square on December 10 if lawmakers fail to deliver their demand. The demonstrators dispersed peacefully after marching through the city center and holding a rally on European Square. Following the demonstration, dozens of people in camouflage and with balaclavas blocked the entrance to the NewsOne television outlet with sacks of sand and barbed wires. They demanded that the station change its editorial policies and that its owner, opposition National Deputy Yevhen Murayev, apologize for remarks that they regarded as disrespectful of the Euro-Maidan protests, which pushed President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014. The broadcaster said it was targeted by “radicals” because it was the “only channel” that covered the rally organized by Mr. Saakashvili’s party. Anti-government protesters set up a tent city outside the Verkhovna Rada on October 17, calling for the cancellation of parliamentary immunity, the creation of an anti-corruption court, amendments to election laws and legislation on the impeachment of the president. The protests were initially called by Mr. Saakashvili, a onetime ally of President Petro Poroshenko, but many of Ukraine’s opposition political leaders have also joined the demonstrations. President Poroshenko has said the real goal of the protest organizers is to destabilize Ukraine. (Crimean Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
NATO chief: alliance will maintain focus
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has praised Rex Tillerson for what he called a “strong personal commitment” to the alliance and said “rumors” that the U.S. secretary of state could lose his job would not affect meetings this week in Brussels. Mr. Stoltenberg spoke on December 4, ahead of Mr. Tillerson’s expected arrival for a December 5-6 NATO foreign ministers meeting and talks with Belgian officials. The NATO chief said that the Western military alliance “and NATO ministers are able to focus on the core tasks of the job we have to do despite any speculation and rumors.” He praised what he said was Secretary Tillerson’s “strong personal commitment to the transatlantic bond and to NATO.” Mr. Tillerson’s December 4-8 trip to Europe comes days after The New York Times and other media published reports, citing unnamed sources, of a White House plan to force him out as secretary of state. A meeting between Secretary Tillerson and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov was planned on the sidelines of a meeting in Vienna of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ahead of his European tour, Secretary Tillerson stressed Washington’s commitment to European security, especially as Russia continues what he called its “aggressive behavior.” Speaking at the Wilson Center think tank on November 28, he said Russia’s military interventions in Georgia and Ukraine, and interference in European elections and politics were unacceptable. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on December 1: “The secretary really has a heart for… the safety and security of the Ukrainian people in the east in the occupied territories who continue to be the target of military operations with the encouragement and participation of forces from the Russian Federation.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP and TASS)
Over 10,220 Ukrainians killed in Donbas
Members of national parliaments of NATO countries have been informed in Brussels about the human losses that Ukraine suffered as a result of Russian aggression. First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko announced these data at a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Inter-Parliamentary Council, an Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels reported on November 28. According to the United Nations, over 10,220 Ukrainians have been killed as a result of Russian aggression since 2014. In particular, 2,335 Ukrainian servicemen (including three women) were killed. A total of 137 children, including 90 boys and 47 girls, were killed. In addition, 298 citizens of other countries, including 80 children, were killed in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Donbas by a Russian Buk missile. More than 8,390 Ukrainian servicemen, including 24 women, were injured in the war. A total of 1,374 women became widows in Ukraine, and 2,190 lost their sons. About 1.5 million people became displaced persons. Among them 676,000 are women and 248,000 are children. At present, 162 Ukrainians are held hostage in uncontrolled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ten women and six teenagers are among them. A total of 403 people are missing in the Donbas. A further 16 Ukrainian citizens became political prisoners and are illegally detained in Russia. The Kremlin regime detained 53 Crimean Tatars for their political views and non-recognition of the occupied territory of Crimea. (Ukrinform)
Op-ed by Manafort and colleague in Russia
Prosecutors investigating Russia’s alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election have accused President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of working with a colleague “assessed to have ties” to a Russian intelligence service to draft an opinion piece about his work for Ukraine. In court filings, the prosecutors working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team said on December 4 that Mr. Manafort and the colleague sought to publish the op-ed under someone else’s name and intended it to influence public opinion about his work. They said Mr. Manafort’s request to lift his house arrest should be denied because, had it been published, the draft opinion piece would have violated a court order not to publicly discuss the case. The op-ed was being drafted as late as last week. Prosecutors did not name the colleague but said the person is based in Russia. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and AP)