Russian Minister comments on a united Ukrainian Church

St. Petersburg (RISU) — According to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Federation does not support Ukraine’s aim to unite the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Why is the Minister of Foreign Affairs commenting on this at all? Shouldn't the ROC's External Church Affairs department be the commentor of status here?

“Our position is simple: we should avoid unilateral steps [with Ukraine], especially in inter-church relations,” said Lavrov. “There are certain agreements on canonical issues within the Orthodox Church that one should be careful about, as these problems affect believers.”

He added that the presidents of Ukraine and Russia agreed to continue discussions on other levels during the meeting in St. Petersburg on 6 June 2008.