This has not prevented all communication. In 2001, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow and ROCOR exchanged formal correspondence. The Muscovite letter held the position that previous and current separation were purely political matters. ROCOR's response is that they were worried about continued Muscovite involvement in [[ecumenism]] as compromising Moscow's Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, this has been far more friendly a discourse than previous decades have seen.

Since the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York|Laurus]] as First Hierarch of ROCOR in 2001, a steady process of rapprochement has been occurring between ROCOR and the [[Church of Russia]]. Multiple visits have been exchanged between hierarchs and other clergy of both churches, and it is generally believed that the restoration of [[full communion]] is imminent.