KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's president on Saturday asked the head of Orthodox Christianity to bless the creation of a Ukrainian Church independent of Russia, raising the stakes in a simmering spat with Moscow. But Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, speaking during celebrations to mark the anniversary of the conversion of Ukraine and Russia to Christianity in 988, moved to extricate himself from the regional row. The dispute over the allegiance of Ukraine's Orthodox believers has already entered the diplomatic sphere, with a Russian foreign ministry official on Friday reportedly accusing Yushchenko of trying to foment a schism. The arrival in Kiev on Saturday of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church for the first time in 11 years paved the way for a possible showdown when the three leaders meet at the culmination of the...
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