Good morning. We'll get the live blog rolling today with a few tweets that caught our eye overnight:
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for December 20, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Ukraine Lawmakers OK Law To Rename Moscow-Loyal Orthodox Church
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV – Ukraine’s parliament has approved a bill that would force the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) to change its name.
A total of 240 lawmakers voted for the legislation on December 20, as hundreds of people opposed to the bill held a mass prayer next to the parliament’s building.
After the vote, the UOC-MP urged President Petro Poroshenko to veto the text, calling it unconstitutional.
The proposed law would require a religious organization whose governing center is based in a country waging war against Ukraine or occupying Ukrainian territory to change its name to reflect its affiliation.
The bill would force the UOC-MP, which remains subordinate to Russia, to add "Russian" to its name.
Moscow forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014 and supports separatists battling Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine in a conflict there has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.
"There is no question that the church that blesses weapons, the killers of Ukrainians, should not bear the name of Ukraine," Ukrainian parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy told lawmakers.
Oleksandr Bryhynets of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction in parliament said the church “may choose any option for itself. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church in Kharkiv, the Russian Orthodox Church in Kyiv. It is their right. They can choose [their name] during registration."
The move comes after Ukrainian Orthodox leaders last week agreed on the creation of a new national Ukrainian Orthodox Church and elected the 39-year-old Metropolitan Epifaniy to head it.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is expected to hand over a "tomos" -- a decree granting autocephaly, or independence -- to Epifaniy on January 6.
Ukraine's leaders said the move was vital to the country's security and independence, but it could further raise tensions with Moscow, which has opposed Kyiv’s efforts to secure an independent church.
With reporting by TASS, UNIAN, and Reuters
Brawl Interrupts Ukrainian Parliament Session
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV – A fight broke out in Ukraine’s parliament as deputies from the Opposition Bloc removed a poster calling for the prosecution of a Ukrainian politician who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Parubiy, announced a break on December 20 after members of the People’s Front party and the Opposition Bloc exchanged blows.
The brawl started after Nestor Shufrych of the Opposition Bloc removed a poster from the podium saying that “Putin's agent [Viktor] Medvedchuk must face trial!"
After that, deputies of the People’s Front assaulted Shufrych and his supporters, and the poster was reattached to the podium.
Medvedchuk heads Ukrainian Choice, an organization that many in Ukraine consider to be pro-Kremlin.
He has played a behind-the-scenes role in exchanges of captives between Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Family Anxious For News Of Ukrainian Captain Jailed By Russia
Roman Mokryak is a Ukrainian naval officer and one of 24 sailors captured by Russia during a violent encounter at sea on November 25. In his hometown of Karlivka, Ukraine, his parents say they've been unable to contact their son as he awaits trial in Russia-controlled Crimea.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
At his marathon annual press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin had plenty of harsh words for the West and for Ukraine's government.
Putin lashed out over the creation of an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, where a church linked with Russia has long dominated.
He blamed the Ukrainian government for what he called "another step to divide the Russian and Ukrainian people" and seemed to mock Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is considered the "first among equals" in Orthodox Christianity.
Putin referred to the Constantinople Patriarchate as the "Turkish" and "Istanbul" patriarchate and claimed that its decision to back the Ukrainian bid for an independent church was influenced by the United States.
He alleged, without citing evidence, that the Constantinople Patriarchate's support for the move was "about money. I think this is the main motive of Bartholomew, who wants to take over that territory and then make money on it."
Putin repeated Russian claims that both the church rift and an incident in which Russian forces fired on Ukrainian naval vessels off Crimea in November were the result of efforts Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to boost his popularity ahead of a March 31, 2019 presidential election.
He said that the fate of the 24 Ukrainian crewmen now jailed in Moscow would be decided after the legal process is complete, suggesting they will not be released or swapped and returned to Ukraine until a trial is at least held.
"They were counting on one of the sailors being killed," Putin said without citing evidence. "That didn't happen. An investigation is under way, and after the criminal proceedings it will be clear what to do next."
At the same time, he said that Moscow was willing to respect a Russian-Ukrainian accord governing the joint use of the Sea of Azov, which is the focus of the maritime tensions.
Kyiv blames Moscow for the dire state of their ties and Putin tried to turn the tables, criticizing Poroshenko's government ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
"As long as Russophobes remain in the corridors of power in Kyiv -- those who do not understand their own people's interests -- that kind of abnormal situation will continue no matter who is in power in the Kremlin," he said.
In addition to seizing Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, Russia supports separatists in a war that has killed more than 10,300 people in eastern Ukraine since April of that year.