OREANDA-NEWS. June 10, 2008.  State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin and Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and Chairman of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergey Stepashin signed a Memorandum on Cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society on June 9.

IOPS was created in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century. It contributed to the spread of Russian culture and the Russian language in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and rendered assistance to pilgrims and travelers in those countries.

The aim of the Memorandum is to facilitate interaction by the MFA with this one of the oldest Russian nongovernmental organizations in the interest of developing Russia’s humanitarian, scientific and cultural relations with the states of the region.