Russian Patriarch delivers historic EU speech

The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church has addressed the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg on his first official visit to France.

His Holiness Alexy the Second of Moscow and All Russia used the occasion to denounce what he described as the "collapse of liberal values" in the West. He also suggested the current concept of human rights has lost sight of the traditional base of moral and ethical values.

Some experts have criticised his remarks, suggesting they could be interpreted as an attempt to justify human rights violations within Russia.