Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Russia
One past unites us, and we must be worthy of the selfless exploits of our fathers and grandfathers in the years of the war. We must not forget what the cost of our Great Victory was, and that we won it fighting shoulder to shoulder, so that our children and grandchildren lived in peace and friendship.
Oleg Popov
Long ago the time when Russian dissidents and human rights activists had indulged in non-censored gratuitous “social” activities became a thing of the past. They used to follow the principle “I can not be silent!” (Leo Tolstoy). At that time they could be imprisoned for it; at the best they could be deported abroad. Now these activities yet traditionally called defense of human rights are not only non-punishable but even well-paid.
In 1975 at the summit of the heads of European states, the USA and Canada in Helsinki, an accord which is well known as the Helsinki Agreement was signed. The states of Eastern Europe including the USSR were recognized as “legal”. In exchange for this “concession” from NATO, Soviet leaders agreed to include into this accord a regulation which imposed responsibility of all these states to observe human rights as prescribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Sergei Govorun
Rating: 5,6|Votes: 8
In the 16th—18th centuries the Greek Church, even though limited in its contacts with the outer world to the borders of the Ottoman Empire, came under a great influence of Western Christianity—greater than did the Russian Church. Here Catholic propaganda worked more effectively, especially with the foundation in 1622 of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith, for both Greek scholars and theologians had increasing contacts with the West and most of them studied there.
The events of last several years in Russia – Chechen war, acts of terror in Russian cities, consolidation of state institutions, struggle for influence on mass media, “spy trials” of G. Pasko and V. Sutyagin and arrests of oligarchs – had shown a striking likeness of positions of Russian human rights activists and their European and American colleagues.