The meeting was held in the Kremlin residence of Alexy II.
One icon, St. Nicholas the Wondermaker, belongs to the Moscow school of icon painting, and the other, Day of Judgement, to the Novgorod school.
When handing in the relics, Putin noted that those were "the much-worshipped icons for centuries". They were legally sold abroad by the Soviet government at a time, and recently bought back and returned to Russia, said the president.
In his turn, Alexy II stressed that "relics taken outside the country were returning to the country" with the president's help. "They have a special advantage of being much-worshipped, many generations worshipped in front of them. We are seeing the times of the relics' return to the motherland," said the patriarch.
African Patriarch Peter VII noted in turn that "the return of the icons to our country is bringing back big faith." Putin invited Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa "to come to Russia more often."
