On April 15, 2022, the Commission on social and youth policy, science, culture, and humanitarian issues of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia held its session at the Optina Pustyn stavropegial monastery near Kozelsk.

The deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly noted the key role of the Russian Orthodox Church in strengthening the spiritual unity of the peoples of Russia and Belarus, as well as in the patriotic education of young people. To this end, parliamentarians initiated the development of the Concept of Spiritual Security of the Union State. The document is expected to lay down the general provisions, main principles, and directions, methods of solution, and prevention of problems in religious and other spheres of life of the modern Russian and Belarusian society.

Speaking at the session, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for the Russian Orthodox Church Relations with Society and Mass Media Vakhtang Kipshidze suggested that the draft of the document should consistently reflect the role of the Church.

"Values cannot exist in isolation from the Orthodox faith. Moreover, values cannot be the result of political construction or intellectual work. This is a process that implies continuity. This continuity for our countries is connected with the Orthodox Church," Vakhtang Kipshidze noted.  

He suggested that the Concept should also contain a mechanism for the protection of spiritual values, which implies, among other things, the resolution of material, organizational, and other issues.