Moscow and the Vatican have exchanged notes formalizing the establishment of full diplomatic relations, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Russia, which only had a representative office in the Vatican, will now have a full-fledged embassy. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced the establishment of full diplomatic ties during his visit to the Vatican and meeting with Pope Benedict XVI last week.

The move was hailed by both the Russian Orthodox Church and the Holy See as a sign of further improvement in relations between the two Christian churches.

"Russia and the Vatican have made a decision to establish diplomatic relations at the level of the Russian embassy in the Vatican and the apostolic nuncio in the Russian Federation" and exchanged related notes, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Relations between the Churches have improved and high-level visits have become more frequent under Benedict XVI and Russian Patriarch Kirill, who took office in February after the death of his predecessor Alexy II.

Church officials in Moscow have accused Catholics of proselytizing in Russia, which the Vatican has denied, and highlighted a number of differences on which there is no room for compromise.

Since 1990, the two sides maintained diplomatic representation below the level of ambassador.

MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti)