Patriarch Kirill Not To Meet With President Yanukovych

Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is expected to come to Kyiv for the celebration of the 1024th anniversary of the baptism of Rus-Ukraine, will not meet with President Viktor Yanukovych.

According to segodnya.ua, the president is on vacation in the Crimea. On July 24, he came to Kyiv to attend the funeral of the actor Bohdan Stupka and flew back to the Crimea on the same day. President Yanukovych will be away from the capital during the celebration of the 1024th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus.

The author of the report reminded that last year the president also was on vacation in the Crimea and Patriarch Kirill flew to the peninsula to meet with him personally. This year, such an event is not included in the program of the patriarch’s visit.

“This year, the traditional July meeting between Yanukovych and Kirill will not take place, and it is not connected with the personal relations between the church leader and the political one but with the relations between the Kremlin and Bankova Street which are now probably at their lowest point since Yanukovych’s presidency. And whatever the personal attitude of Kirill to the boss of the Bankova Street is, he will hardly show it now. It is no accident that the program of the patriarch’s visit includes only the obligatory event in Kyiv and no trips to other places, even though UOC previously expected Kirill to visit Chernihiv as well,” says the report.