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On 24 November 2009, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations, on his stay in Kiev on the occasion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir’s birthday, met with Yu. Bogutsky, the first deputy chairman of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine, at the Secretariat’s premises.

Yu. Bogutsky expressed his satisfaction with the results of the visit to Ukraine paid by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia last summer. One of the results is the launching of a dialogue between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and uncanonical Orthodox communities in the country.

Archbishop Hilarion noted that the dialogue is an internal affair of the Church and would be successful only in case the external forces do not intervene.

Both sides underscored the importance of preserving the single spiritual and cultural space of Ukraine and Russia.

Taking part in the meeting were the first deputy chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church Education Committee archimandrite Kirill (Govorun), DECR acting secretary for interorthodox relations Rev. Igor Yakimchuk, and a staff member of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine A. Borak.