During the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Moscow from 18-20 August, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Aleksii II denounced calls to "confine the Church within the framework of the Russian Federation." The State Duma backed the ROC's geopolitical pretensions within the CIS by allocating 6 million rubles ($216,000) to the ROC in Ukraine this year. In early August, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, asking Russia to return mosaics and frescoes from the Mykhaylivskyy Golden- Domed Cathedral in Kyiv. So far, he has received no response. The cathedral was built from 1108-1113 and destroyed on the orders of Josef Stalin in 1934. Some of the surviving treasures were looted by the Nazis but returned in the late Soviet era. The cathedral was rebuilt from 1996-1999 with Kyiv city funds and is now under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarch (UOC-KP). The reconstruction of the cathedral has been seen as direct competition to the rebuilding of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, backed by Mayor Yurii Luzhkov. "Kommersant-Daily" deemed the Ukrainian cathedral's construction politically motivated because "Ukraine is pretending to be the successor to the whole tradition of Kyiv Rus." The ROC stands to lose the most from the unification of Ukraine's three Orthodox Churches into an independent (autocephalous) Church because Kyiv would resume its historical leadership among eastern Slavs as the direct descendant of Kyiv Rus and the Kyiv Metropolitanate (the city of Moscow was founded 600 years after Kyiv). The ROC is also concerned about maintaining its influence. In the former USSR, two-thirds of ROC parishes were in Ukraine; today half of ROC parishes remain within Ukraine's borders. According to the Oxford-based Keston College, the ROC has a greater number of parishes outside the Russian Federation and within the former USSR (more than 9,000) than within the Russian Federation itself (7,000). In Ukraine, whose population is three times smaller than Russia's, there are two times as many Orthodox parishes as in the Russian Federation (14,000). This makes the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches potentially the largest Orthodox community of believers in the world.
Of the 14,000 Orthodox parishes in Ukraine, 8, 000 come under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarch and the remaining 6,000 fall under that of the UOC-KP and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC). The combined total of nearly 15,000 ROC parishes within the former USSR gives the ROC the clout to back its historical claim of leadership within the Orthodox world as the "Third Rome." The "Second Rome" (Constantinople, known by its Turkish name of Istanbul) is therefore subordinate to itself. Ukraine, with its large Orthodox community, is key to the struggle between the ROC and the Patriarch of Constantinople for leadership and influence over the world's Orthodox believers.
Of particular concern to the ROC is Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew I's declaration in June that Ukraine lies within its canonical territory. That claim, which is backed by the Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Georgian Orthodox Churches, is based on Constantinople's non-recognition of the forcible transfer of the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitanate to Moscow in 1686, making the ROC's control over Ukraine uncanonical in the eyes of Constantinople.
In 1924, Constantinople Patriarch Grygorii revived the Kyiv Metropolitanate by creating the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church (PAOC) at a time when 6 million Ukrainians lived in Poland. The UOC-KP and UAOC claim to be canonical descendants of both the Kyiv Metropolitanate and the PAOC and thus back Constantinople's jurisdiction over Ukraine. Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in North America came under the Patriarch of Constantinople's jurisdiction in 1995.
The ROC rejects any claims by Constantinople over Ukraine and describes its two rivals in Ukraine as "schismatics," demanding that they return to the bosom of the only "canonical" Church. As in Belarus, the ROC in Ukraine has allies among the left and pro-Slavic union political groups, and, ironically, its most ardent supporter is the Communist Party of Ukraine. It is therefore not surprising that the August Moscow synod refused even to discuss a request by President Leonid Kuchma, the metropolitan, and all but two of the bishops of the ROC in Ukraine to grant it autonomy. Kuchma sees the granting of autonomy as a step toward the unification of the ROC in Ukraine with the UOC-KP and UAOC into an autocephalous Orthodox Church. All opinion polls conducted in Ukraine since 1992 give majority support among Orthodox believers to the UOC-KP. Confusion among many Orthodox believers is due to the fact that the ROC in Ukraine was registered as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in 1990, even though it has never possessed any kind of autonomous status and is merely an exarchate of the ROC. Some 200 of the 1700 Orthodox parishes in Galicia, for example, belong to the UOC (ROC).
In an interview in "Tserkalo Tyzhden" in August, Patriarch Filaret of the UOC-KP said he believes that 60-70 per cent of the ROC in Ukraine would agree to join a united Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The establishment of such a Church would make Ukraine home to the largest Orthodox Church in the world, and Constantinople would have found itself a new ally in its historical struggle with the ROC for leadership over Orthodox believers. Such a move would also seriously damage the movement for eastern Slavic union within Ukraine, as the autocephalous wing of Ukrainian Orthodoxy supports Ukraine's integration into Trans-Atlantic and European structures.

The author is an honorary research fellow at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.

UKRAINE TO LEASE GAS PIPELINES FOR $1.8 BILLION? Deputy parliamentary speaker Stepan Havrysh on 4 September said the Ukrainian government is "viewing the possibility" of leasing the country's gas pipeline network to a Russian-Ukrainian joint venture for $1.8 billion over 25 years, Interfax reported. According to Havrysh, Ukraine's pipeline system is worth $20 billion. He noted that according to the current bill on oil and gas, which is to be amended in the parliament in the upcoming session, "such a transfer of gas pipelines on unfavorable conditions for Ukraine is impossible." In Havrysh's opinion, Ukraine's pipeline system might be privatized. JM

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT URGES LAWMAKERS TO ADDRESS TAX DEBTS. Leonid Kuchma has sent a letter to the parliament urging deputies to speed up the adoption of bills intended to regulate debts to the state budget and state funds, Interfax reported on 4 September. Kuchma noted that 128,000 enterprises owe 15 billion hryvni ($2.75 billion) in unpaid taxes and other obligations, including 9.9 billion hryvni in fines for overdue payments. JM

The author is an honorary research fellow at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report Vol. 2, No. 32, 5 September 2000

A Survey of Developments in Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine by the Regional Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team

EUROPE TO SEND TRUNCATED MISSION TO 15 OCTOBER POLLS. The OSCE's technical conference in Vienna on 30 August adopted somewhat mystifying recommendations on the international monitoring of the 15 October legislative elections in Belarus, as if to match the no less puzzling stances of the Belarusian opposition on the upcoming poll (see "RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report," 29 August 2000). In particular, the OSCE election experts said:

"Progress has been made in the four major fields relating to the organization of democratic elections that constituted the main topics of international consultations, but this still falls short of the internationally agreed criteria.

"Whilst the legal framework for the elections has been improved, the other framework guidelines--access to the media, functions of parliament, peace period...have not so far been changed to the extent that overall conditions could at this point be qualified as satisfactory."

"However, the changes to the framework for the parliamentary elections do justify a technical assessment mission to be organized and deployed by [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)] in close cooperation with [the OSCE's Advisory and Monitoring Group in Minsk (AMG)].

"The Conference invites the Parliamentary Troika [of the European Parliament], the ODIHR, and the OSCE AMG to evaluate the conduct of the elections and subsequent developments, in particular with regard to the functions of the new parliament, the respect for human rights, and the strengthening of the rule of law.

"The presence of the Parliamentary Troika and the ODIHR limited technical assessment mission emphasizes the political significance that Europe attaches to the development and consolidation of democracy in Belarus. Their presence in Belarus on the occasion of the parliamentary elections does not constitute an act of international recognition of the democratic character and outcome of the parliamentary election process.

"The recommendations may be reviewed in the case of improvement or deterioration of the situation in Belarus."

It is no wonder that both official Minsk and the opposition claimed success over the controversial election issue--in these recommendations, each side doubtless could find what it wanted to. Foreign Minister Ural Latypau commented that the recommendations are "a compromise that opens the way to international observation of the elections." And Anatol Lyabedzka, who spoke for the opposition at the Vienna conference, told journalists in Minsk on 31 August: "The main result [of the recommendations] is that there will be no international monitoring of the polls."

UKRAINE

KUCHMA PREDICTS RECORD-LOW GRAIN CROP. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said last week that Ukraine is facing a recordlow grain crop, adding that only strict controls over grain exports will prevent bread shortages. "This year we are likely to harvest three million tons of grain less than last year," Reuters quoted Kuchma as saying.

Last year, Ukraine harvested 24.4 million tons of grain, its worst harvest since 1945, and analysts say this year's crop is unlikely to exceed 22 million tons. The Agricultural Ministry has previously said it expects a harvest of some 25 million tons.

Experts say that due to bad weather and a lack of funds Ukraine is likely to harvest no more than 11.2 million tons of wheat this year, compared with last year's 13.5 million. They say the country is unlikely to satisfy its bread-making needs and may resort to wheat imports from Kazakhstan.

The head of Ukraine's State Reserves Agency, Yehven Chervonenko, told Interfax last week that the agency is holding talks with Kazakhstan's state companies on wheat imports this year but gave no details. The agency previously announced it is planning to buy some 1.5 million tons of grain at home and abroad to replenish state stocks. According to Chervonenko, grain purchases from Kazakhstan are necessitated by high prices for grain in Ukraine as well as by the low quality of this year's Ukrainian wheat.

"RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report" is prepared by Jan Maksymiuk on the basis of a variety of sources including reporting by "RFE/RL Newsline" and RFE/RL's broadcast services. It is distributed every Tuesday.