The blessing took place on the Day of Grand Prince Vladimir

Thus Christianity was introduced to Russia and the supremacy of the Orthodox church ensured.

And at the ceremony to bless the newly-resplendent 19th century cathedral named after St Vladimir, both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma chose to emphasize the importance of the Orthodox religion to their modern states and to the relationship between their peoples.

Mr Putin said that spiritual values constituted the foundation of unity between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.

He said that often cliches referring to fraternity and brotherhood were used without people really thinking about what they meant.

New age

"Sometimes, we do not think of the meaning behind these words. It is when we come to a place like this that everything falls into place.

"This is because values such as kindness, mercy and love are the true spiritual roots that tie our peoples together."

Values such as kindness, mercy and love are the true spiritual roots that tie our peoples together

Russian President Vladimir Putin

He said events such as this showed that Russia and Ukraine had begun a new phase in their development, that they had "entered a period of creative, restorative and constructive effort in the true sense of the word".

For his part, Mr Kuchma described the proceedings as an "important landmark" not only for Ukraine but for all people of the Orthodox faith, which he said was demonstrated by the presence of Mr Putin.

Saying that progress was impossible without spiritual and Orthodox foundations, he stressed that spirituality was one of the priorities of Ukrainian policy.

Neglect

"No violence, cruelty or blindness is able to destroy Christian values," he said.

Putin is on a two-day visit to Ukraine

But the buildings symbolizing these values can certainly be destroyed by neglect and the more prosaic requirements of everyday life.

The cathedral built on the ruins of the ancient building where Vladimir was baptized became a museum after the Communist revolution of 1917, and little attention was subsequently paid to its upkeep.

Discordant note

Damaged during World War II, the cathedral suffered the indignity of having its bricks pilfered by locals during the decades that followed to satisfy their construction needs.

It was not until three years ago that the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, initiated the restoration of the cathedral, which has culminated in the consecration ceremony.

Yet even as a new cross was raised above the cathedral's dome, the talk of unity was somewhat dampened by the crowd in this predominantly-Russian speaking region greeting Mr Putin with chants of "Russia, Russia".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.