Patriarch Kirill: Ukraine’s Membership in NATO May Create Instability in Eastern Europe

United States ambassadors discussed the question of relations between Ukraine and NATO  with the head of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill and Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns touched this issue in April 2008 during their meetings, as evidenced by the documents published on the website WikiLeaks, which publishes secret documents from the Pentagon and U.S. State Department.

"Solzhenitsyn was critical of plans to bring Ukraine into NATO, but he did not pursue the topic," states the document. In the same document, however, as Ukrainian Truth informs in reference to WikiLeaks, Patriarch Kirill was more severe than Solzhenitsyn in his attituded toward NATO enlargement.

"Ukraine is not ready, and membership in NATO could cause a split among the citizens of Ukraine and create instability in Eastern Europe," said the Patriarch of Moscow.