(OSV News): “Imagine the Vatican as a venue for negotiations. It’s a bit vulgar,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, remarked on May 23, reacting to rejected the Vatican’s offer to host talks for ending the war in Ukraine.
Vatican secretary of state, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, had offered to “eventually make the Vatican … available for a direct meeting” between Ukraine and Russia, as May 16 talks between those nations in Istanbul ended after just two hours, with little result except for a mutual prisoner exchange.
Speaking at a conference in Moscow on “Historical South Russian Lands: National Identity and Self-Determination of Peoples”, Lavrov said Russia has “no plans” for when or where the next meeting between the two nations will take place and described efforts to coordinate talks at the Vatican as “unrealistic.”
The Vatican move had been endorsed by Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and US president, Donald Trump, with US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, confirming that the Vatican could be a meeting venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks before meeting on May 17 with Matteo Cardinal Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, Italy, who has served as a papal peace envoy between Ukraine and Russia since 2023.
Imagine the Vatican as a venue for negotiations. It’s a bit vulgar
Sergei Lavrov
Ukraine’s president, Voldymyr Zelenskyy said in his May 19 conversations with Trump that he had “reiterated that Ukraine is ready for direct negotiations with Russia in any format that brings results. Turkey, the Vatican, Switzerland—we are considering all possible venues.”
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told media on May 22 there are “no agreements” to hold talks at the Vatican.
Lavrov cited religion as one obstacle, saying a meeting between Russia and Ukraine, “two Orthodox countries,” at a “Catholic platform” would be “somewhat uncomfortable” for the Vatican.
Most Christians in Ukraine are Orthodox, followed by Ukrainian Greek and Roman Catholic. The country is also home to Jewish, Muslim and Protestant communities.
Some 71 per cent of Russians identify as Orthodox, with 15 per cent claiming no religious faith and fice per cent identifying as Muslim. Other faiths, including Catholicism, each represent one per cent or less of the remaining population.
Most Christians in Ukraine are Orthodox, followed by Ukrainian Greek and Roman Catholic. The country is also home to Jewish, Muslim and Protestant communities.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has been a fervent supporter of Russia’s war on Ukraine, launched in 2022—continuing attacks initiated in 2014. The patriarch preached in a September 2022 sermon that any Russian soldier who dies in Ukraine offers a sacrifice that “washes away all the sins that a person has committed.”
Sergei Markov, a political consultant closely aligned with the Kremlin, told Bloomberg that security concerns prevent Russian president, Vladimir Putin, from travelling to the Vatican, which is nestled in Italy.
Putin is the subject of one of six arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes by Russian officials in Ukraine. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Italy would in principle have a duty to arrest Putin if he entered the country.
Bloomberg, citing unidentified European officials, said discussions are nonetheless taking place to create a role for the Vatican in Ukraine-Russia talks.
