Zelensky’s office put forward conditions to the Vatican even before the start of the mediation mission
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Podolyak put forward conditions to the Vatican even before the start of the mediation mission of the Holy See
Even before the start of the Vatican’s mission to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, put forward a number of conditions for the Holy See, RIA Novosti reports.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Podolyak said that Kyiv would support the Pope’s peace initiative only if “the Vatican promotes the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.”
Another condition Podolyak called assistance in the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war, civilian prisoners and children.
Earlier, the Pope instructed Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the Episcopal Conference of Italy, to carry out a mission “which will help to ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine.”
Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin explained that the Zuppi mission should first of all try to create a “climate” that could lead to peace. However, as he noted, it is too early to talk about the dates of the cardinal’s possible visit to Russia and Ukraine.
Podolyak stated: “If the Holy See has a different point of view, unfortunately, this will only exacerbate the crisis.” He stressed that the efforts of the Vatican should proceed from the “territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
On April 30, Pope Francis, during a press conference on board the plane after the apostolic trip to Hungary, announced that the Vatican was carrying out a mission to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, which could only be told “when it becomes public.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that any efforts by the Vatican would make sense only if the well-known principled position of the Russian Federation on possible peace talks was taken into account.
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