A meeting between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took place during the session of the Working Group on Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One of the key topics discussed was the protection of Christians globally and the defense of traditional spiritual and moral values.
"The participants in the meeting discussed various aspects of cooperation between the Church and the Russian foreign policy department, including the protection of Christians and support for compatriots living in different regions of the world, as well as the defense of traditional spiritual and moral values in the international arena," stated the announcement on patriarchia.ru.
According to the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta," one of the shared objectives could be the recovery of icons stolen from the temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The Russian Orthodox Church intends to pursue this matter through international courts. Bishop Kallinikos (Chernyshev), the vicar of the Simferopol and Crimean Diocese, expressed this view on the sidelines of the XXXII International Christmas Readings in Moscow while commenting on reports of icons appearing in the Louvre in France.