A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 4 - Tuesday, January 25th, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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DOW JONES NEWSWIRES MOSCOW (AP)--Estonia's president met with President Vladimir Putin Thursday in a private visit to the Kremlin where the two leaders discussed ethnic Russians' status in the Baltic nation and Estonian participation in ceremonies marking the anniversary of the end of World War II. Russian news agencies said Arnold Ruutel also met with the head of Russian Orthodox Church , Alexey II, who said there were unresolved issues with Estonia regarding church property. Russia has often tense relations with Estonia and the other former Soviet republics of Latvia and Lithuania. The three Baltic countries are new members of the European Union and have actively courted Western political and military organizations. The three have also asserted their ethnic and linguistic identities, upsetting the significant ethnic Russian minorities residing in their countries. Russia has invited Estonian and other Baltic leaders to Moscow on May 9 for celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. ITAR-Tass said Ruutel hadn't decided whether to participate, according to his press service. Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the only Baltic leader who has accepted the invitation, ITAR-Tass said. Alexey II told Ruutel that some church property in Estonia had yet to be returned to the church. "The protocol of intentions regarding property return has been signed, but the issue has not been resolved so far," the patriarch was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass. Ruutel said the issue was complicated only by "purely legal formalities."
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