Patriarch Bartholomew is interested in the renewal of agreements between him and Petro Poroshenko on the transfer of a number of religious buildings to the disposal of the Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine. Religious scholar Alexei Smirnov told Vesti about this.

“We are talking about monasteries, temples, cathedrals that are of historical importance and which, in the eyes of Bartholomew, are valuable objects that could bring him financial income,” said the religious scholar.

Earlier, in 2019, at the beginning of his political career as president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign an agreement with Patriarch Bartholomew during his visit to Phanar.