Moscow, March 24, 2015

The letters express their concern about use of electronic documents and innovative technology in interaction between citizens and the authority, which leaves no alternative.

The Church is talking about these issues with government agencies, urging them to take into account and understand the position of the faithful, calling upon them to respect the voluntary nature of identity provision and to give people the opportunity to opt for traditional methods of identification. The Church representatives have stated that respect must be shown for citizens’ constitutional rights and that those who refuse to accept electronic methods of identification must not be discriminated against.

In many cases the state authorities heed the words of the Church and the citizens, taking specific steps aimed at ensuring of the equality of rights and respect for religious convictions of believers.

Thus, in November 2014 a citizen of the Chelyabinsk region A. V. Kurilova made an appeal to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia with the request to help her obtain free medicine for her little son without registration of Insurance Number of Individual Ledger Account.

This document was forwarded to the Department for Relations between the Church and Society for execution. A petition, signed by the Department’s chairman, was sent in to the governor of the Chelyabinsk region B. A. Dubrovsky with the request to assist in obtaining the medicinal product.

At the end of February the Department for Relations between the Church and Society received a response from the first deputy governor of the stating that the boy will be provided with the drug preparation until the end of 2015”.