RIGA, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church wrapped up a historic visit to Latvia Monday and issued a call for unity, which he said the country's people want.
Patriarch Alexy II arrived in the Latvian capital Saturday to make the first official visit to the country by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a trip aimed at giving spiritual support to the country's Russian-speaking minority, which has complained of discrimination by local authorities.
"Today our three-day visit to Latvia's hospitable soil ends," Alexy said. "And we have felt throughout these days that people are craving for unity."
"We all live in one mutually dependent world, and should establish good-neighborly relations with each other," he said.
The patriarch Monday laid flowers at a memorial in Riga to Soviet soldiers who died in fighting to drive the Nazis out of the country during World War II.
Latvia's prime minister said earlier Monday that a visit by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to the republic had sent an important political message.
"I believe that it is a very important political signal in Latvian-Russian relations," Aigars Kalvitis said after meeting with Alexy. "It is the first ever visit by a patriarch to Latvia."
Relations between Russian and the Baltic country have been tense over the treatment of the ethnic Russian minority and Latvia's claims for compensation for what it says was Soviet occupation that started just before World War II when Latvia joined the U.S.S.R.
"I think that follow-up steps should come from both governments," Kalvitis said, adding that he hoped a meeting between the countries' heads of government would take place in the foreseeable future.
