MOSCOW: Russia has responded to Pope Francis’s recent call for talks to end the war in Ukraine, interpreting it as a request for Kyiv’s Western allies to reassess their stance and acknowledge their role in the conflict.
The statement, reported by Italy’s ANSA news agency, suggests that Moscow views the Pope’s plea as an appeal for the West to abandon its ambitions against Russia and recognize its purported mistakes regarding the Ukraine war.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that the West has been using Ukraine as a tool to pursue its ambitions of weakening Russia. She stated that Russia has not obstructed negotiations and portrayed the situation in Ukraine as reaching a deadlock.
However, Ukraine has rebuffed Pope Francis’s call for negotiations, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissing it as “virtual mediation.” Zelenskiy’s foreign minister also asserted that Kyiv would never capitulate. The Ukrainian government’s stance underscores its determination to resist Russian aggression and seek a resolution that upholds its sovereignty.
The conflict in Ukraine escalated after Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, which followed years of conflict in eastern Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin framed the war as an existential battle between Russian civilization and a declining West. Meanwhile, Western countries view Putin’s actions as an imperialistic land grab that challenges the post-Cold War international order.
Despite Putin’s suggestion of a ceasefire to freeze the war, which was reportedly rejected by the United States, Ukraine remains steadfast in its resolve to expel Russian forces from its territory. Zelenskiy recently announced that Russia would not be invited to the first peace summit scheduled to be held in Switzerland.
Overall, the response from Russia to Pope Francis’s call for talks underscores the complexities and geopolitical tensions surrounding the Ukraine crisis, highlighting the divergent perspectives of key stakeholders involved in the conflict.
