An American Orthodox archbishop's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, in which they exchanged warm greetings and gifts of holy icons -- is drawing a denunciation by Ukrainian Orthodox bishops in the U.S. They called it a "betrayal of Christian witness" in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Archbishop Alexei -- the bishop of Alaska for the Orthodox Church in America, the now-independent offspring of the Russian Orthodox Church -- met Aug. 15 with Putin at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery in Anchorage following Putin's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Putin also placed flowers at the graves of Soviet-era airmen killed during World War II.

"Russia has given us what's most precious of all, which is the Orthodox faith, and we are forever grateful," Alexei to

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