When Russian president Vladimir Putin celebrated the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, he claimed the disputed peninsula was “spiritually” inseparable from Moscow.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Financial Times: Putin suffers Crimea blowback with Orthodox Church schism
People attend a mass prayer to express gratitude to the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate for granting approval to establish Ukraine's independent, or "autocephalous," church on Oct. 14 in Kyiv.
