Irregular Inauguration of Newly Elected President of Ukraine

KYIV – The inauguration of the newly elected President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, was conducted irregularly as far as the participation of the church in inauguration events is concerned, reports the Institute of Religious Freedom.

An hour before the inauguration on February 25, 2010, a thanksgiving prayer service for the occasion of the inauguration of the president-elect was led in the Kyiv Cave Monastery by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow with the president present. The Moscow Patriarch blessed the head of the Ukrainian state for presidency. 

Only some of the heads of the denominations and members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) were invited to the celebratory session of the Supreme Council of Ukraine. The rest of the spiritual leaders were given a chance to join the celebratory events only during the official reception in the second half of the day in the Ukrainian House.

According to the Regulations on State Protocol and Ceremonial of Ukraine, approved by Decree 746/2002 of 22.08.2002, “The plan of events for the inauguration of the President of Ukraine include…the ceremony of the blessing of the President of Ukraine by the heads of the churches and religious confessions of Ukraine in the Saint Sophia Cathedral.”
 
This tradition, which was formed after Ukraine’s independence, was observed by all the newly elected presidents of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma (1999) and Viktor Yushchenko (2005), who held separate meetings with the members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations in the Saint Sophia Cathedral.