Russian interior minister claims for contracts with church and states about criminal situation in the country improves

Speaking at the 5th Christmas readings held annually by the Russian Interior Ministry and the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said he thought it necessary for law enforcers and the Russian Orthodox Church to extend contacts. Rushailo noted that joint humanitarian and charitable work has been a priority in recent years in cooperation between the Russian Interior Ministry and the Church launched in 1996. The clergy visit "hot spots", Chechnya in particular, to provide spiritual assistance to police officers on tough duty there. Law enforcers help to reconstruct a church in Grozny /Grozny is the capital of Chechnya, an RF constituent republic/ which was damaged twice. The minister said that for the time being the Grozny church became again the centre of Russian community. In his turn, when speaking at the readings Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexis II stressed that the life in the new millennium "will much depend on whether our life will regain a spiritual element and whether law and order will be observed", RIA Novosti announces. Speaking about the situation in the state in general, the minister said that there was a tendency of drop in the crime rate. At the same time Rushailo noted that “it is not time yet to speak about the complete stabilization of the criminal situation in the country”, RIA Novosti announces. According to him, grave and extremely grave crimes still dominate.