Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople’s attitude toward the church schism in Ukraine is connected to his desire to subdue the Ukrainian church and then start profiting from it, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, the kyivpost.com reports. “Look how it is becoming dependent on Turkey, the Turkish patriarchate.

It involves appointments, and a lot of other things, and money, most importantly. I think Bartholomew’s main incentive and motive is to subdue this territory and then start profiting from it,” Putin said at his annual press conference in Moscow on Thursday, as the Ukrainian website reports.

Putin on Thursday suggested that Bartholomew’s “main motive” was to “subjugate” Ukraine, the Voice of Americareports. “It is also done with the aim of a further split between the peoples of Ukraine and Russia,” Putin said.