MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Russia is the leader of the free world, the country that cannot be influenced from the outside, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the 16th Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said.
"Listen carefully, Russia is the leader of the free world. We are indeed a free country, this is a real fact. <...> We are free from the most potent external influences, we are developing along our own path, and I hope to God this path is successful," he told the Russia-1 TV channel in an interview on the occasion of his 75th birthday.
The Patriarch stressed that Russia may serve as an example to other countries. "We have a lot of problems but these problems can be resolved. We currently don’t have any pressing issues around which societal interests may collide and profound irreconcilable differences may emerge. I think this is the grace of God. And the existing difference of opinion is a normal difference of opinion that does not destroy the foundations of human life, the statehood, the spiritual life - it creates the fertile ground for a creative clash of opinions which may result in new ideas, new projects directed at the further development of our Motherland," he explained.