Pope Francis this Friday considered Ukraine not considering mediation for peace because it knows that “it has very great strength of its own,” while Moscow said it appreciates this attempt at mediation.
“They don’t dream so much of mediations, because the Ukrainian bloc is really very strong. All of Europe, the United States. In other words, they have a very great strength,” Francis argued in an interview days after he became the president of the Vatican Volodymyr Zelensky.
After that meeting, the Ukrainian president assured that he did not need intermediaries and asked the pope to abide by his peace formula, which includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from all areas.
Francisco replied at the time that “that was not the tone of the conversation” and clarified that the Ukrainian leader had asked him “a very big favour”, that is, he was trying to take care of the children being taken to Russia. referring to the alleged deportation of thousands of youths.
“He is very hurt by this situation and has asked for cooperation in trying to get the boys back to Ukraine,” the pope said in the interview released this Friday.
Asked if he thinks Russia should return the occupied territories, Francis narrowly replied that it was “a political problem”.
“Peace will be achieved the day when they can talk, in pairs or through others,” the pope said.
Last week, the Vatican confirmed that the pope has delegated to the president of Italy’s bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the task of mediating the conflict in Ukraine in order to reach a ceasefire.
On Friday, Moscow said it appreciates the Vatican’s efforts to promote an end to the conflict in Ukraine, but stressed that it is unaware of the details of the peace plan, as well as the possibility of a visit to Ukraine by a foreign national. Vatican envoy Matteo. Bruni.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it was unaware of the Vatican’s intentions, but acknowledged that it appreciated Pope Francis’ efforts to unblock the conflict in Ukraine.
Speaking to the RIA Novosti news agency, a senior Russian diplomacy official said his government appreciates the Vatican’s efforts “to help end the conflict in Ukraine”. See to advance the peace process”.
Russian diplomacy reiterated that in any case “any attempt in this direction will only make sense if Russia’s well-known position of principle is taken into account”, i.e. Ukraine accepts “the new reality” regarding the annexations of Crimea and three other regions.
Source: DN
