Pray for the Russian Orthodox Church to be liberated from the Communist-Party domination it suffers under.
Born in 1929, Alexi II was ordained in 1953, and was made Bishop of Estonia in 1961 at only 32 years old. In 1964, he was made Archbishop, and in 1968 -- at only 39 years old -- was made metropolitan.
A 35-year-old Archbishop? According to documents found in Estonian KGB Archives, he had become a KGB agent at 29 years old. He was routinely honored with state and clerical titles by the Stalinist regime, and was a major promoter, and sometime leader of the World Council of Churches, which has been exposed as a KGB plot to infect Western churches with Marxist ideology. He became Russian Patriarch in 1990, under Boris Yeltsin, and has tightly held Vladimir Putin's party line.
O... and this is interesting:
the Patriarchy of Moscow was founded in 1589. The last Partiarch of that line was Adrian, who served until 1700. He was replaced by a coadjutor, and then simply a head of the Russian Holy Synod.
The Patriarchy was re-established by the Communist Party, to create a centralized, state-run church.
I therefore even wonder if the Catholic Church should regard the Patriarchy as a representative of the Russian church at all. Naturally, if you are trying to restore the unity of the ancient Church, you like to have a partner in negotiations. If Alexy refuses to talk, however, maybe Benedict should talk with other Archbishops. I'd love to see Alexy's reaction to frutful negotiations with Belarussians or Estonians. OTOH, I can readily see how they'd be unwelcoming to a "back-door" talks.