Believe it or not, that's Vladimir Putin, president of Russia and Russian Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, with whom he has become quite friendly.
The following is from the Moynihan Report, Letter #94:
This is amazing stuff, and much of what Putin said at that gathering was extremely relevant here in the United States, but some of it hit like a ton of bricks.
On September 19, Putin spoke at an annual gathering to discuss Russia's future in Valdai, Russia (near Novgorod).
"Putin urges Russians to return to values of religion," was the title of an AP report by Neil Buckley, present at the meeting.
"Vladimir Putin called on Russians to strengthen a new national identity based on conservative and traditional values such as the Orthodox church, warning that the West was facing a moral crisis."
Here's the quote:
Here's an earlier post on Russian Patriarch Kirill I on "gay marriage" and political correctness:“A policy is being conducted of putting on the same level multi-child families and single-sex partnerships, belief in God and belief in Satan. The excesses of political correctness are leading to the point where people are talking seriously about registering parties whose goal is legalizing the propaganda of pedophilia. People in many European countries are ashamed, and are afraid of talking about their religious convictions. [Religious] holidays are being taken away or called something else, shamefully hiding the essence of the holiday.”
http://wwwpopblogger.blogspot.com/2013/07/words-of-relevance-russian-patriarch.html
And: Today, November 7, 2013, it was announced that Pope Francis will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vatican City, on November 25.
WOW!
