KAZAN, June 17. /TASS/. Before the start of bilateral meetings at the Russia-ASEAN summit, President Vladimir Putin stopped by an Orthodox church in the Kazan Kremlin and a mosque, the Kremlin said.
"On his way to bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit, the president visited the Orthodox church in the Kazan Kremlin and a mosque. Putin talked with the parishioners," it said in a statement.
The head of state visited the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin and the Kul Sharif Mosque, accompanied by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov. At the Orthodox church, the Russian leader talked with parishioners and asked if they liked the decoration of the cathedral.
Then the president went towards the altar part of the church, where he placed candles and venerated an icon. Leaving the cathedral, the president took a picture with children and talked with the parishioners again. When Putin heard that one of the women had arrived in Kazan from Murmansk, he said with a smile: "It will be warmer here."
At the mosque, the president and the head of Tatarstan went to the prayer hall, taking off their shoes in front of the entrance. In the prayer hall, Minnikhanov showed Putin a fragment of the kiswah of the Kaaba kept in the mosque. The kiswah is a traditional black silk veil embroidered with gold threads that covers the walls of the Kaaba. The kiswah in Mecca is changed annually, after which the silk is cut into fragments and given as gifts.