Russia's Putin says liberal values are obsolete

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Thursday that liberal values were obsolete because they had been rejected by the majority of the people in Western nations.

Putin told the Financial Times newspaper that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made a cardinal mistake by adopting a liberal policy towards immigration from the Middle East.

Putin also said he had the impression that liberal circles were set on using problems being experienced by the Catholic church to destroy the church.

(Reporting by Christian Lowe; Editing by Andrew Heavens)