Patriarch Kirill of Moscow visits the graves of Katyn

Prime Ministers Putin and Puck in April 2010 at the Katyn Memorial

The Russian Orthodox patriarch has visited the graves of the 22,000 Poles near Smolensk, who were massacred under the rule of Stalin during the Second World War. In April 2010, it was recently the site of a ceremony involving Russian and Polish leaders sharing the commemoration in a spirit of truth and reconciliation. Unfortunately, on the way to the ceremony, the plane carrying President Kaczincki of Poland and many leading figures of Polish life and society - including Archbishop Miron, the Orthodox ordinary for the Polish Army - crashed, making the commemoration especially sorrowful for the people of Poland. The tragedy was met with an outpouring of grief and sorrow from people in Russia and the adversity has since served to sustain a desire for greater reconciliation and friendship on both sides since.

Patriarch Kirill saw the model of the Church of the Resurrection which is being built on the site, and whose foundation stone was laid in April by the Prime Ministers of Poland and Russia together.