Vladimir Putin arrives in Sarov to celebrate memory of Saint Seraphim

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Sarov (Nizhni Novgorod Region) today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the canonisation of Seraphim of Sarov. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, the president was met at the cathedral by about 3,500 local residents and about 200 Orthodox believers from different regions of Russia.

The president visited the Temple of the Prophet Seraphim, which was blessed yesterday by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexei II. He also met local residents and Orthodox believers.

Afterwards Mr Putin will set off for the Russian atomic energy centre, where he will meet the centre's leading researchers. The president is expected to present at least two of them with national awards.

The Russian Scientific-Research Institute of Experimental Physics was founded in Sarov in 1943. The first Soviet nuclear bomb was put together at the centre as well as the first ever hydrogen bomb in the world, designed under the leadership of Andrei Sakharov, the famous Russian academic.

The president is also expected to meet Governor of the Nizhni Novgorod Region Gennady Hodyrev today.