Moscow, February 19, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church considers the criticism of the current electoral campaign by the West and oppositional circles emotional and legally groundless.

“To make any serious conclusion, the electoral campaign should be appraised from the legal view. In case the campaign is evaluated emotionally, such evaluation will always be unilateral,” head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad has told to an Interfax press conference.

“From the legal view, there haven’t been any mistakes to give grounds for criticizing: the president didn’t run for the third term, the electoral legislation is observed. Everything is correct from the official and legal view,” the metropolitan noted.

According to him, the strictures of the current events in Russia are initiated by those, who are disappointed with Russian society’s choice. “But the choice of Russian society is a matter of Russian society, yours and mine,” he stressed.

Metropolitan Kirill believes Russia hasn’t a powerful liberal party, a strong liberal leader. ‘It has happened not because these parties were liquidated or compromised, but rather because their policy brought the society to the state people rejected,” Metropolitan Kirill said.

“Thus, one can be either disappointed with Russia’s current political picture or be inspired by it – it’s a matter of taste. But it should be appraised only from the legal view,” the church official said.