Cathedral of Christ the Saviour I. Metropolitan Jonah later described the event, saying that even with a congregation of approximately 2,500, the vast church was only half full. About 16 bishops attended the ordination of a new bishop that day. In 2012, five members of the rock band Pussy Riot staged an uninvited performance in the Cathedral, expressing political opinions critical of the government. The members were arrested and jailed. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (, "Khram Khrista Spasitelya") is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few hundred metres
Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War United Kingdom likewise declined. On 20 October 2015, three weeks into the Russian military campaign in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow to discuss their joint military campaign "against terrorism" and "a long-term settlement, based on a political process that involves all political forces, ethnic and religious groups" in Syria. In May 2012, the Russian Orthodox Church and its primate Patriarch Kirill I were reported by the U.S. mainstream press to be supportive of the existing regime in Syria; the Church′s leadership alluded to the potential threat to Christians in Syria that had comprised