Russian, Belarusian, And Ukrainian Slavic Fundamentalists To Call For Ethnic And Religious Tolerance

MINSK. April 4 (Interfax) - "Ways of strengthening ties between the peoples of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine will be high on the agenda of the Slavic Peoples' Assembly in Minsk, a spokesman for the Federation of Belarussian Trade Unions told Interfax on Tuesday.

"Deputies of the Russian State Duma and Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, Belarussian parliamentarians, scientists, people of culture, businessmen and politicians from all three states will attend the Slavic Peoples' Assembly, which is due to take place at the Trade Unions' Republican Palace of Culture in Minsk on April 10-11," the source said.

"The need to strengthen the traditions of friendship and cooperation between members of various ethnic and religious communities for the benefit of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine will dominate the forum's agenda," he said."...

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11491493












Donetsk, [Eastern] Ukraine's 'Planetarium' looks suspiciously like a former Islamic House of Worship; which is a little strange given that the richest man in Ukraine -- who lives part-time in Donetsk -- is of the Muslim faith. On the other hand, the former Soviet Planetarium in Odesa (Odessa), [Southern] Ukraine, has been returned to the Orthodox Church. However, several of the remaining, preserved Synagogues of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus are still used for such non-religious purposes as children's puppet theaters and storage sheds. [Also, Odesa has a beautiful new modern Islamic mosque, but alas, only a handful of that city's scores of Synagogues survived the last World War.]

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk

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Lviv, Ukraine -- an Eastern European City of Religious Tolerance and the unofficial Cultural Capital Of Europe 2006 -- celebrates 750 Years!

Lviv History Museum:

http://lhm.lviv.ua/eng/