Two May 2018 signals: church independence appeal and a US fleet
A look back at an appeal by three former presidents and a US Navy decision, both reported in the first days of May 2018.
What did Ukraine's public life look like on 10 May 2018? Two reports from the preceding days help frame it: one domestic, one international.
On 8 May 2018, Ukraine's former presidents Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko signed an address to the Ukrainian people and to believers in Ukraine. It concerned the granting of a Tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The signatures of three former heads of state on a single text gave the appeal weight across successive eras of Ukrainian politics, and it placed the question of church independence squarely in public debate.
A few days earlier, on 4 May 2018, the United States Navy re-established its Second Fleet, which had been disbanded in 2011. The move was explained by recent heightened tensions between NATO and Russia. Later commentators used terms such as Second Cold War or New Cold War for tensions of this kind, though some discouraged such labels.
Two tracks, one period
The two reports concern different arenas. One is an internal appeal on a matter of national religious life; the other is a military reorganisation by a NATO power, explained by its tensions with Russia. Both were part of the news landscape in the days before 10 May 2018, and both showed how questions of identity and security were being raised publicly at that moment.
The address of 8 May 2018 is the more directly Ukrainian of the two: it was a joint public statement by three former presidents on a single cause. The fleet decision shows the wider international setting in which Ukraine's politics were being discussed.
