Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulated a Tatarstan couple on nikah wedding

October 14, USA Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accompanied by Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev visited the Kazan Kremlin, the historical architectural complex in Kazan.

The United States official delegation included John R. Beyrle, the USA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia, Philip Gordon, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Michael McFaul, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs of the National Security Council.

A traditional sightseeing tour of the Kazan Kremlin started at the Kul Sharif Mosque. The imam of the mosque, Deputy Chairman of the RT Muslims Religious Board, Ramil Yunusov, met Hillary R. Clinton at the entrance. The Secretary of State witnessed a nikah wedding taking place in the mosque; she and Mintimer Shaimiev gave flowers to the newlyweds and congratulated them on the marriage.

From the mosque the guest proceeded to the Annunciation Cathedral where Archbishop of Kazan and Tatarstan Anastasy met them. In the cathedral, the USA Secretary of State put candles to the icon of Kazan Mother of God that had been brought from the Church of the Elevation of the Cross for such an occasion.

Then, Hillary Clinton stopped at the autoexposition of the newest products of KAMAZ, the Tatarstan-based truck-making plant, arranged in the Kremlin. It included trucks that work on engines manufactured jointly by KAMAZ and US-based Cummins. Hillary Clinton said she heard about KAMAZ of Tatarstan and knew it was one of the largest truck-makers in the world.