Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Patriarch Kirill thanks Putin for leading the country out of crisis in 1990s

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia highly appreciated Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's role in leading the country out of the crisis it lived through in the 1990s.

"Personally You, Vladimir Vladimirovich, played a great role in correcting this curve of our history. I'd like to thank you. You once said that You work as a galley slave. The only difference is that slave's work wasn't so efficient, while Your work is," the Patriarch said at Putin's meeting with representatives of Russian traditional religions.

"It doesn't mean that all of us agree with Your every step, with everything that's going on in the country. We have critical points of view and I speak about it publicly, never restricting myself," he said.

According to Patriarch Kirill, the way out of "the hardest 90s was an absolutely special page in centuries-old history of our Motherland."

The things our country passed through in the 1990s is compared to other most significant cataclysms of its history - the Time of Trouble in the 17th century, Napoleon's invasion, the civil war and Hitler's aggression, the Patriarch believes.

"And what are the 2000s years? By God's miracle and active participation of the country's leaders we managed to come out of this terrific, system crisis destroying the very foundations of people's life," the Patriarch noted.