Voices from Russia

Serbian President Boris Tadic has said he will call an early general election after the country’s bitterly divided coalition government fell apart over policy on Kosovo. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica announced the collapse after failing to get his cabinet to reject closer EU ties in protest at the region’s independence.

All ministers in the 25-member coalition Cabinet support preserving the territorial integrity of Serbia, but, nearly half of them urged the government to end all ties with the EU, this, after many of its members granted formal recognition to the UDI of Kosovo. Prime Minister Kostunica announced his resignation earlier today, and he hopes that new elections would redistribute Cabinet posts to ensure the country’s territorial inviolability, which is currently undermined by pro-European minded ministers. President Boris Tadic said he respected the Prime Minister’s decision and would set the date for the early elections. 

President Boris Tadic stressed that Serbia’s economic progress was only possible in the framework of the European Union. According to Mr Tadic, joining the EU will certainly add to Serbia’s drive to uphold state interests regarding Kosovo. Mr Tadic recently came to power in a bitter election, where he won a slim majority over his rival Tomislav Nikolic, a vehement opponent of the UDI of Kosovo.

Mr Kostunica is convinced that Serbia’s new parliamentary elections must be held within the terms stipulated by the Constitution. ”The government of Serbia has no united policy on Kosovo, and that is why such a government could not function any more. We should return the mandate to the people”, Mr Kostunica said, in a clear hope to get the electorate to support Belgrade’s determination to annul with Kosovo’s UDI.

9 March 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=23968&cid=56&p=09.03.2008 (in Russian and English)

The Government crisis was triggered by the situation in Kosovo where Albanian separatists proclaimed a UDI in a move that won the support of the United States and a number of European countries. Given the situation, Belgrade should have taken a clear-cut stand on the European Union, which has all along supported the drive of the Kosovo Albanians for independence.

However, Serbia’s ruling coalition has split on the situation. The Democratic Party of Serbia under Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and the New Serbia party said Serbia would give up any rapprochement with the EU if Brussels recognised Kosovo’s independence. But, the pro-European pro-presidential Democratic Party and Group 17 Plus said they were prepared to forego Kosovo in exchange for joining a single Europe. The position was best formulated by Defence Minister Dragan Stutanovac who said in an interview with the newspaper Politika that Serbians should look the reality squarely in the eye and realise that any decision that takes them away from Europe also takes them away from European standards.

This prompted Mr Kostunica to question the veracity of the coalition partners’ claims that they struggle for the retention of Kosovo and he called snap parliamentary elections for 11 May. Yelena Gouskova, the Head of the Centre for studying the modern-day Balkan crisis at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Slavonic Studies, feels the government crisis is yet another test that Serbia must endure. “No country or people can live in a state of continuous election. There are normally many questions to deal with, while the preparation and holding of elections takes it out of the nation. Serbia, besides, has an interim government; hence, it is difficult for it to make decisions from March to May on the involved and important issues that have to do, among other things, with Kosovo and Metochia”.

Yet, that’s the situation as it is. Given that the political parties in Serbia are diametrically opposed on the issue of greatest importance to the nation, it is for the people of Serbia to decide. The forthcoming voting will decide both the confidence in politicians of various political parties and the future of Kosovo and Serbia at large.

10 March 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=23988&cid=56&p=10.03.2008 (in Russian and English)

Synod May Be Forced to Suspend Bishop
Fr Eugene Vansuch Declines Administrator Position

The drama in Alaska continues. Bishop Nikolai, in an interview with Channel 2, KTUU-TV, a NBC affiliate in Anchorage, announced he would not leave the diocese despite an order from the Synod of Bishops to do so. The story by presenter Maria Downey as posted on the KTUU-TV website reads:

Tensions are mounting for the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska. The Right Rev Nikolai says he “refuses” to take a leave of absence after receiving national orders to step aside as Alaska’s Russian Orthodox leader. The order came down from the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America after Alaska church leaders complained about the bishop’s leadership. The church first asked the bishop to take a temporary leave of absence while the investigation was underway, but, he wouldn’t step down.

Bishop NIKOLAI said Friday that even though he’s been ordered to step aside he still will not leave. The bishop says proper procedures are not being followed by the church in its decision. He says no one has the authority to remove him since there are no charges or no trial. Archpriest Eugene Vansuch has been appointed to temporarily run the Alaska diocese

Synod Now On The Spot

The Bishop is serving this weekend in Ekutna, outside Anchorage. The Synod has already made it clear that failure to comply with its order placing the Bishop on mandatory leave and requiring him to physically quit the diocese while an investigation is conducted would be considered “wilful disobedience”. When he was consecrated bishop, Nikolai pledged obedience to the Holy Synod. Thus, his refusal to leave is a breach of church discipline that could lead to his suspension, regardless of the findings of any investigation.

Vansuch Declines

The confusion surrounding Alaska deepened today, if possible, as informed sources related to OCANews.org that Fr Eugene Vansuch, who was appointed as the Administrator of the Alaskan diocese by the Metropolitan on Friday, has declined the appointment. Rev Vansuch, who had been a loyal supporter of Bishop Nikolai on the board of St Herman Seminary, was just appointed Rector of St Vladimir parish in Trenton NJ on 1 January 2008.

Syosset has offered no comment on the Bishop’s latest refusal or on Rev Vansuch’s either. It is reported that an alternative administrator has been chosen, but that his name will not be released at this time.

8 March 2008 [actually posted 10 March 2008]

Mark Stokoe

Orthodox Christians for Accountability

http://www.ocanews.org/news/NikolaiRefuses3.8.08.html (in English)

Editor’s note: This brings things back to the rather nasty beginning. The refusal of Nikolai to leave is open and evident rebellion. If the OCA Synod of Bishops refuses to, or cannot, remove a recalcitrant bishop, it is the beginning of the final act for this ailing (at best) organisation. I have no doubt that Moscow pressured Syosset to act in this matter. The next 48 hours shall tell the story, I am sure.

The refusal of Fr Eugene to take the position as administrator does not bode well for the future of this body. Either he did so because he was a friend of Nikolai, which illustrates the lack of control by Syosset, or, he was asked by outside sources to decline. None of us know. The evidence is non-existent, so, it is imprudent to speculate. Nevertheless, it is further proof that the Jabberwocky lives, and that his address is in Syosset.