Russian Church Urges US to Join Forces With Russia in Fighting Terrorism

The chief of the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations department said to with US Vice President Michael Pence that "the US and Russia would work side by sid"e as part of one anti-terror coalition.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The chief of the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations department told US Vice President Michael Pence on Thursday the two countries should put aside their differences and work together to fight terrorism.

"During our conversation, I said that terrorism was the main challenge to the modern world and that we needed a unified counter-terrorism coalition in order to defeat it," Metropolitan Hilarion told Sputnik on the margins of the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians in Washington, D.C.

The Russian cleric said the new US administration seemed to have a "clearer understanding of the situation, unlike its predecessor." He added he hoped that "the US and Russia would work side by side as part of this coalition" and that "political disputes would be put side."

During his speech before leaders of faith and US Congress people at the Mayflower Hotel, Pence emphasized that Christian communities had been targeted atrocities committed by terrorists across the Middle East, and promised that the Trump administration would stop them.