The head of the Moscow Patriarchate's External Relations Department, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill has denied foreign press reports that Saddam Hussein presented oil contracts to the Russian Orthodox Church.
"This is an absurdity, I cannot think of any other word. Nothing of the sort could happen," Metropolitan Kirill told a Thursday press conference in Moscow. Foreign press reports claim that Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the Russian Communist Party also received oil contracts from the former Iraqi leader. Kirill said he was perplexed at the "strange company" the Russian Orthodox Church finds itself in.
The metropolitan said he "will thoroughly analyze the origin of the press reports and see what is behind them."