(FiveNation.com)- On January 6–7, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a brief ceasefire in Ukraine in deference to Orthodox Christmas.
The Julian calendar, which predates the Gregorian calendar used in Catholic and Protestant traditions, is utilized by the Eastern Orthodox Church to celebrate Christmas and later to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has recently fought with more expansive Eastern Orthodox authorities, is thought to have about 100 million followers.
Before the Kremlin’s declaration, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, urged Russians and Ukrainians to observe a Christmas truce.
According to a statement from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, “given the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation to introduce a ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine from noon on January 6 to 24:00 on January 7.
The declaration comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls for a unilateral ceasefire in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to reports, on Thursday, Erdogan spoke on the phone separately with both Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine.
Zelensky tweeted about his conversation with Erdogan and urged “no invaders” in Ukraine.
“Spoke with [Turkish] President @RTErdogan. Discussed security cooperation, in particular ZNPP, there should be no invaders there, the exchange of prisoners of war, the grain agreement development. Glad to hear that [Turkey] is ready to participate in the implementation of our #PeaceFormula,” he tweeted.
Russia acknowledged Erdogan and Putin’s phone call on Thursday. Putin “acknowledged the damaging role of the West, sending weaponry into Kyiv, offering information and direction.
The president of Russia stated that he is open to discussion but insisted that Ukraine must accept “new territorial realities.”
After over ten months since Putin’s military forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, there was a brief ceasefire around Christmas. Since then, the United Nations estimates that more than 7.9 million people have been displaced as refugees throughout Europe.
