Head of Georgian Church Hails Moscow Visit, Talks with Medvedev
Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, said upon his arrival back from Moscow that the Georgian authorities should take an advantage of, as he put it, a positive momentum of his visit and continue a dialogue with Russia.
He told journalists late on December 11, that during the meeting with Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, he had discussed broad range of problems existing in the bilateral relations.
“I want to say that the Russian President is in favor of return of refugees and this is a very pleasant symptom; he is also [in favor of] opening of the borders and functioning of embassies,” he said. “There was an agreement in almost all the issues and I think that our authorities should use our visit there and continue this course, I think that it will bring good results.”
Ilia II led the Georgian church delegation in Moscow, which attended funeral of Russia’s late Patriarch Alexy II. The Georgian Orthodox Church delegation visited Moscow a month ago and met with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Grigory Karasin, which was the first official contact between the two countries after the August war.
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