His arrival in Kiev and his active part in the Shevchenko Scientific Society there was perhaps the outstanding event during this period. It meant that in Kiev and in Russian Ukraine, where the revival of the nation had actually started, there would now be established the real centre of Ukrainian historical scholarship. It meant that the bonds between Kiev and Lviv would be tightened and that it might not be impossible for the two sections to work together, in case there should be a conflagration in Europe which would involve the two Empires. This could not fail to have an effect upon European politics and indirectly upon the future fate of the Ukrainians and their position in world opinion. Russia as the self-appointed protector of all the Slavs could not fail to look with dissatisfaction at the loss of influence of her friends in Austria-Hungary. As the self-appointed model of Orthodoxy, she could not but be displeased at the success of the Uniats and at their revival in Eastern Galicia. During the years before 1914, she made constant efforts to turn back the Greek Catholics to Orthodoxy, especially in Carpatho-Ukraine under Hungary. She exploited in every way possible any unrest or discontent in the mountain valleys and hoped in the coming struggle to be able to profit by these newfound friends. At the same time her own position and her own attitude insisted upon thinking of all Ukrainians as merely a form of Russians and she could not visualize any policy other than that of complete Russification. On the other hand, Austria-Hungary and later Germany could not be blind to the potentialities of the Ukrainian movement. They had first used it as a tool against the dangers offered by Polish irredentism. Now as they saw it growing in Russia, they began to wonder if it might not be used also as a means of disintegrating that country also. Some of their leaders began to scheme how this could best be done and they were willing to make minor concessions in Eastern Galicia which might win over the loyalty of the Ukrainians and make them more willing to be loyal to the Dual Monarchy.