MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti) - If Kosovo, a Serbian province with an ethnic Albanian majority, declares independence, it would make visits to local Orthodox shrines difficult, Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia said Tuesday.
"We know that Kosovo is a holy land for Serbs," Alexis II said at a meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic ahead of UN talks on the status of Kosovo. "There are many Orthodox shrines in Kosovo."
He wished Tadic "to preserve the unity of the Church and state."
Presidential envoy in the Central Federal District Georgy Poltavchenko, who also attended the meeting, said, "The solution to the problem [of Kosovo's status] should be acceptable for all sides, above all, Serbia and the residents of Kosovo and Metohija because this is a single country."
