Pope Francis is ready to mediate negotiations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the Vatican to resolve conflicts.
That’s according to the head of the World Union of Old Believers, Leonid Sevastyanov, who referred to his conversation with the pontiff, Russian media reported.
“The way Peskov reacted made it clear that Russia is comfortable with the Pope as a negotiator. We need to start some movements, first of all, probably from the Russian side. The Pope confirmed to me that he was ready to be such a mediator, ready to provide the Vatican as a negotiating platform, initially for Putin and Zelensky, in the form of a round table: the Pope, Putin, and Zelensky. The pontiff is ready to act as a moderator. And the presidents can discuss topics, for example, of a ceasefire, of some kind of disengagement of armies, and then they could discuss more global things,” said Sevastyanov.
He added that after such negotiations, the Pope proposes to hold a conference in which, in addition to the Ukrainian and Russian parties, U.S. and EU officials would also participate.
“At the conference on security in Europe, everyone must agree on some new form of security. The Vatican has enough infrastructure in Rome to hold any conference of any format on its territory,” the head of the Union of Old Believers noted.
