Russian Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin (R) attends an Orthodox Easter service conducted by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill (L) in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow April 14, 2012. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church on Friday rejected criticism of his increasingly strong relationship with President Vladimir Putin, saying that close ties between the church and state were good for society.
Opposition groups, and some Russian Orthodox believers, have voiced concern about the Church's closeness to the state in a debate fuelled by the two-year jail terms given last month to three members of the Pussy Riot punk band who protested in a Moscow cathedral.
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