 The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, at its session on 15 October 2018, severed ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.The decision was taken in response to the move made by the Patriarchate of Constantinople a few days prior that effectively ended the Moscow Patriarchate's jurisdiction over Ukraine and promised autocephaly to Ukraine.On 26 April 2017, for the first time, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom classified Russia as one of the world's worst violators of religious liberty, recommending in its 2017 annual report that the U.S. government deem Russia a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act and negotiate for religious liberty.