The Russian Orthodox Church has announced it will break ties with the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate recently recognised the independence of the Ukrainian Church.
The Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, has ruled that any further clerical relations with Constantinople are impossible, Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s External Relations Department, told journalists, de facto announcing the breaking of relations between the two churches.
source: rt.com