President Vladimir Putin handed over the icon of the Smolensk Virgin to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexii II.
Mr Putin handed over to the Patriarch the unique icon of the Smolensk Virgin.
The icon was stolen in the early 1990s from a museum in the town of Ustyuzhna (Vologda Region) and was taken out of the country. The icon was returned to Russia through the work undertaken by the Federal Service for Supervision of Legislation in Mass Communications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage.