His Holiness Patriarch Alexy comments on the nomination of D. Medvedev for Presidency

On December 11, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia commented at the journalists’ request the nomination of D. Medvedev for the Presidency by several parties and President Putin’s support of the initiative. His Holiness called this a balanced decision and said further: ‘I think that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who has worked with Dmitry Anatolievich Medvedev for seventeen years, knows him well and appreciates his talents and potential.’

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church highly appreciated Medvedev’s work as the first deputy prime minister and his contribution to the preparation and implementation of the national programmes aimed at the solution of the most urgent problems of the Russian society in demography, health care and education. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy noted Medvedev’s support of an idea of the governmental recognition of the diplomas and scholarly degrees of the church educational institutions.