Archpriest Heorhiy Kovalenko, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, explained in 2014 that there had been transfers of individual parishes to the Kyiv Patriarchate since the mid-90s, but no mass transfers. But in that year alone, thirty parishes switched allegiances, according to the Kyiv Patriarchate. In terms of individuals, the numbers are even greater: according to the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a Kyiv-based pollster, 31 percent of Ukrainians identified with the Kyiv Patriarchate in 2011, and 26 percent with the Moscow Patriarchate. By the end of 2015, however, the number loyal to Kyiv had jumped to 44 percent, while 21 percent remained members of the Moscow Patriarchate.
