The meeting of the Working Group was opened by its co-chairmen – G. Karasin, state secretary, deputy minister of foreign affairs, and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR).
Participating in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman, staff members of the DECR sections, the Moscow Patriarchate department for church-state relations and the Moscow Patriarchate office for institutions abroad. The MFA was represented by V. Sorokin, director of the CIS countries department, O. Vasnetsov, director of the department for relations with the Federation constituent members, A. Viktorov, director of the department for humanitarian cooperation and human rights, and others.
The meeting discussed various items on the common agenda and outlined priority areas in cooperation between the ROC and the MFA for the coming period.
