Putin holds meeting of presid Council for religious unions

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Sept 29 2004

MOSCOW, September 29 (Itar-Tass) – Russian President Vladimir Putin
is chairing a meeting of the presidential Council for interaction
with religious unions in the Kremlin on Wednesday.

The meeting is focused on discussing ‘activities of religious
organisations on consolidating the civil society and counteracting
to the global threat of terrorism and extremism.’

The Council has recently undergone changes.

By his decree the president included in the Council the head of
the Russian Orthodox Church of Old Belief, Metropolitan Andrian
(Chetvergov).

So now the Council consists of 22 members.

There are four hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, three muftis,
the Chief Rabbi of the Federation of Jewish Communities, the Head of
Buddhists of Russia, the Old Believers Metropolitan, a representative
of the Armenian Church, heads of Russian Catholics, Lutherans,
Baptists and Adventists, as well as seven secular experts among them.