Kremlin opposes Pope’s participation in peace talks - Bloomberg
US and European leaders hope that the Vatican will be able to engage Russia and Ukraine in peace talks, but the Kremlin is not interested in President Vladimir Putin's trip to the Vatican for talks.
According to Censor.NET, Bloomberg writes about this.
According to the publication's sources, Russian officials are not planning Putin's trip to the Vatican or anywhere else for talks, and instead are focused on the technical-level talks that began in Istanbul last week. The Kremlin expects these talks to resume in Istanbul as well.
However, European officials claim that the role of the Vatican as a potential host or mediator in the talks is currently being discussed. The talks could take place as early as next week, although it depends on Russia's willingness to participate.
According to the sources, US officials are in contact with the Ukrainians to ensure that the talks take place:
"They’re also signaling to Russian counterparts that they’d prefer to avoid participation in the meeting by hardliners such as Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led Moscow’s delegation in Istanbul."
Russian politicians say that Putin will not go to Italy, a NATO member state, for security reasons, and Russia does not consider the Vatican to be neutral in the conflict.
The issue is further complicated by the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Kirill, a staunch supporter of Putin and the war in Ukraine:
"The Russian Church opposes the Vatican’s involvement in the peace talks, regarding it as a historical rival in Ukraine that also failed to criticize the authorities’ closure of churches loyal to Moscow, according to people with knowledge of the issue."
In addition, Italy is a member of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. And it would be obliged to arrest him if he came to Rome.
"Even if all those hurdles were overcome, negotiations are far from reaching a deal that would require a summit meeting involving Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to sign an accord ending the war. Putin and Trump didn’t mention a summit on their phone call," Bloomberg adds.
However, according to three people close to the Kremlin, Russia considers Turkey to be the best place to continue negotiations on the memorandum setting out the terms of the peace deal that Putin discussed with Trump during their meeting.
The choice of Turkey and the representatives from the interrupted 2022 talks is seen as a signal from Russia that it is "back to square one" in the negotiations, a senior European official said.
To recap, Finnish President Alexander Stubb suggested that technical-level talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine could take place in the Vatican next week.
