Russia and Vatican have established full diplomatic relations, ending years of tensions between the two sides, announced the Kremlin on Thursday.
The announcement came after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently on an Italian visit, met with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday.
"President Medvedev told Pope Benedict XVI that he had signed a decree concerning the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the Vatican," said presidential spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told reporters.
"He asked the foreign ministry to lead discussions to establish the relations and raise the level of representation to apostolic nuncio and embassy," she added.
Currently, the Holy See has an apostolic nunciature in Moscow, while Russia has a permanent mission in the Vatican. With the decree, the status of both representations are expected to raised to that of embassies.
The latest political development comes amidst decades of distrust between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches. The Russian Orthodox Church says that Vatican is making efforts to convert its followers to Catholicism, an allegation which the later denies.
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