Baloga: In 2008, Ukraine was one step away from a patriarchate, but Yushchenko scuttled the deal with Bartholomew

Viktor Baloga, former head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine (2006–2009), told RBK-Ukraine in an interview prepared as part of a special project marking the 35th anniversary of Independence, about a version according to which in July 2008 Kyiv was one step away from obtaining not only autocephaly but also its own patriarchate. According to him, the historic opportunity was missed because President Viktor Yushchenko, at the final meeting, insisted on appointing Patriarch Filaret (UOC-KP) as head of the united church, which, the former official claims, led to the collapse of the agreement with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Half a year of negotiations in Constantinople

As Baloga claims, he personally conducted "extremely complex" negotiations in Constantinople with Patriarch Bartholomew, as well as with the heads of the then Ukrainian confessions — Filaret (UOC-KP) and Meletius (UAPC) — for about half a year. According to his version, he managed to agree on a concept for uniting the three churches under the omophor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: Metropolitan Vladimir (UOC-MP) was to become the head temporarily, and Filaret agreed to the position of deputy. The former aide of the Secretariat stated that all the hierarchs signed the relevant documents, after which Bartholomew agreed to fly to Kyiv for the anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, and the decision of the Ecumenical Synod on granting a patriarchate, as both sides expected, was to be announced within a few months.

A U-turn in the orange office

According to Baloga's account, the negotiation process "fell apart in a minute" during the final private meeting in the so-called orange office on Bankova. When, in his words, Bartholomew confirmed that Ukraine would receive a patriarchate in 2–3 months, Yushchenko put forward his own condition — to make Filaret the patriarch. Baloga quotes the Ecumenical Patriarch's reaction: he allegedly stood up, struck the table with his cane and, switching from Greek to Russian, said: "Yushchenko, you mind your own... Spirituality is my domain. You are not to meddle in it!" The former official also claims that Bartholomew left Kyiv "in tears" and that at the airport, in his words, he "buried his head in a flower bed and ate the earth," after which he declared that "today the greatest mistake in the history of Ukraine has occurred" and that the country "is in for wars." Baloga added that had Yushchenko "simply kept silent," Ukraine would have gained church independence ten years earlier, and the president himself, in his assessment, would have been able to secure his re-election for a second term.

Contradictory data

The version presented by Baloga is one-sided and has not been publicly confirmed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, by the participants of that time, or by church institutions. In particular, the claims that "all the hierarchs signed the documents" on uniting the three churches under the omophor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the sensational quotes from Bartholomew (including the airport episode and the prophecy about wars), remain in the status of a single-source testimony and are not corroborated by independent documents or comments from the other side. Moreover, in the same material Baloga touches on a topic unrelated to autocephaly — the claim about the possible involvement of Yushchenko's closest circle in his poisoning during the 2004 campaign "in the interests of foreign intelligence services," which is also his personal version without confirmation. Thus, the fact of the interview and of the former official's statement itself is confirmed, while the content of the key episodes and quotes remains disputed and requires additional verification.

Chronology: from 2008 to the Tomos of 2019

For context: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited Ukraine in July 2008 at the invitation of Viktor Yushchenko on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus. Officially, the Tomos on the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch only in January 2019 — that is, as Baloga himself notes, about ten years later than that "missed," in his assessment, chance. The gap between the unofficial 2008 version and the documented 2019 act forms the basis of the debate that this interview launches.

Context: Baloga's statements on Yushchenko's poisoning

Separately, the RBK-Ukraine material mentions that Viktor Baloga previously stated that the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko during the 2004 presidential campaign, in his claim, may have involved the president's closest circle, acting, as the politician believes, in the interests of foreign intelligence services against the backdrop of a sharp geopolitical confrontation. This statement is not directly related to the topic of autocephaly, but it shapes the overall context of Baloga's public assessments of Yushchenko's figure and the events of that period.