President
of Russia Vladimir Putin: Your Holiness, good afternoon.
Patriarch
Kirill 
Kirill Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia : Good
afternoon.
Vladimir
Putin: Your
Holiness, in your service to our nation, you contribute immensely to the Orthodox world, to the Russian people, and to all of Russia, devoting
tremendous energy and effort – of this I am well aware.
On the occasion of your birthday, I wish to convey my heartfelt wishes for your
health, that you may continue this noble service to our Motherland with the same, if I may say, rigorous and intense resolve.
Thank you
very much. My congratulations.
Patriarch
Kirill: I offer my profound gratitude, Mr President, for your generous words and for your
congratulations, and most importantly, for the fact that, with your active
participation as head of state, such a style and model of relations between the Church and the state has been established – one that, I dare say, would be the envy of all preceding generations.
In the former, tsarist era, the Church was not free; it was administered by a state
official. In Soviet times, we know what happened. Now, for the first time in our
long history, the relations between the Church and the state are conducted in such a manner that no conflicts arise which could, as it were, cast a shadow
over these relations. Furthermore, these relations genuinely serve the welfare and prosperity of our people and our beloved Motherland.
I thank you
most sincerely for this.
Vladimir
Putin: Thank you. Might
I trouble you for some tea?
Patriarch
Kirill: It would be
my pleasure.