State Policy toward Religious Associations, first of all the Russian Orthodox Church, in the First Years of Vladimir Putin's Presidency
Alexander Verkhovsky 1. Introduction The state policy as regards religious confessions in the years of Boris Yeltsin's presidency underwent various metamorphoses. And Vladimir Putin, who headed the state in 2000, received a not too coherent heritage. It is already a common phrase to say, that by that time the state had special relations with the Russian Orthodox Church (more precisely, with the Moscow Patriarchate and it dioceses).