Religious Leaders Informed President Yanukovych that Visit to Brussels Will Still Be Made

The Kyivan Patriarchate is satisfied with the meeting with Ukraine’s president, the spokesman of the UOC-KP, Archbishop Yevstratii (Zoria) of Chernihiv and Nizhyn said in a commentary to RISU.

“The meeting was the longest of all such meetings so far. It lasted for two and a half hours,” he said.

“Of course, there was some tension about the meeting. The president said that he did not know that it concurred with our planned visit,” stated the archbishop.

According to Bishop Yevstratii, the leaders of the churches passed to Ukraine’s president written proposals regarding cooperation with the state authorities, such as the tax administration, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Presidential Administration. According to the spokesman of the UOC-KP, Viktor Yanukovych promised “that everything will be studied, elaborated and issued in the form of directions.”

“The members of AUCCRO informed Viktor Yanukovych that we intend to visit Brussels later. Patriarch Filaret and Patriarch Sviatoslav explained the purpose of the visit and why it is organized in order to prevent any possible misunderstanding in this matter,” said the archbishop of UOC-KP.