MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church, gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a present on Thursday, crediting him with serious contribution to the unification of the Moscow church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).

An agreement signed earlier in the day reunited the two branches of the Russian Orthodox Church after decades of hostility that followed the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.

Putin, who attended the signing ceremony, received from Alexy a casket with a folding icon of the Live-Giving Trinity.

"Let it be a reminder of today, a day that has unified us all," the patriarch said.

After that, Putin exchanged triple kisses with Alexy and the first hierarch of the ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus.

Alexy and Laurus signed the agreement at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.