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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Russia boosts ties with Vatican | Russia boosts ties with Vatican |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| Russia and the Vatican have agreed to establish full diplomatic relations, the Kremlin has announced. | |
| Until now, Moscow only had an office of representation at the Vatican. The new status means full-fledged embassies will be established in Moscow and Rome. | |
| The announcement comes after President Dmitry Medvedev met Pope Benedict XVI while on a visit to Italy. | |
| The move follows improvements in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican. | |
| Decades of distrust | |
| "President Medvedev told Pope Benedict at today's meeting that he signed a decree concerning the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the Vatican," presidential spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters. | |
| "He asked the foreign ministry to lead discussions to establish the relations and raise the level of representation to apostolic nuncio and embassy," she added. | |
| The political detente follows decades of distrust between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches. | |
| The Orthodox Church has long accused the Catholic Church of seeking to convert Russians to Catholicism. | |
| The Vatican says its activities in the country cater largely for traditional Catholic minorities like Poles, Germans and Lithuanians, who have faced discrimination and persecution in the past. |