The Russian Orthodox Church asks the authorities to take into account the fact that many Orthodox believers oppose the assignment of an identification number to them

On January 15, Mikhail Dudko, Secretary for Relations of the Church and Society of the DECR MP, on the air of Ekho Moskvy, commented on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church on the plans of the Ministry of Economic Development to assign an identification number to every citizen of the country . According to him, "even at the beginning, the Russian Orthodox Church stated that the assignment of certain identification numbers, or the introduction of new passports, where there is additional information about a person, does not violate the spiritual rights of the individual." But at the same time, he added, “among ordinary believers, such things as the assignment of individual numbers often cause embarrassment,” therefore, “the Russian Orthodox Church has always turned to the authorities with a request not to do anything that could embarrass the conscience of believers, and we are in this position stay."

Sources

• Identification numbers: Russian Orthodox Church asks the authorities to consider the feelings of believers // NEWSru.com. 2004 January 15th.