President-elect Dmitri Medvedev with President Vladimir Putin
Moscow, 26 April 2008 (Interfax):
Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia considers that the coming transition in the presidency is important, and he prays that the work of Dmitri Medvedev as President of the Russian Federation shall be successful. “In Russia, a smooth transition of power was always the most important condition for the stable development of our country. It is necessary for the state to care about the needs of the common people to ensure that they have a decent standard of living. In many ways, the attitude of the people towards the government and the policies followed by it is determined by whether or not they have confidence in their present situation and optimism towards the future of their children”, His Holiness stated in an interview published on Saturday in the newspaper Rossikoy Gazeta.
The patriarch said that President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin played an exemplary role in the revival of Russia. “At the beginning of the 1990s, we saw mistrust and apathy at all levels of society because of the oppression caused by severe economic problems and an unstable social situation that was exacerbated by the official policies of the state. Since the chaos of that time, much in Russia has changed for the better. Vladimir Vladimirovich played a significant role to this revival. His application and effort resulted in a reawakening of confidence in the future amongst the Russian people”, he emphasised. Amongst President Putin’s virtues were his solicitude for a good and moral society, and his fostering of good relations with the Church.
After the patriarch noted that “to be the Head of State, a high and serious service, one must apply all of his talents, all of his self-confidence, in a spirit of self-sacrifice”, he said that Dmitri Medvedev “knows about these very difficulties at first-hand. His long experience of service in critical posts makes it possible for us to hope that he shall continue to work successfully for the prosperity of the Russian state and the Russian people. Dmitri Medvedev shall be helped in this difficult endeavour by his sincere faith. I pray that the Lord gives our new President strength and that He would lead him in the execution of his duties. I hope that we shall preserve and further develop our good relations with the government and actively pursue a dialogue with it on the questions of the life of the Church in society, on Russian society in general, and on the common concerns of the entire world”.
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