Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See has denied there was a “strong Russian influence at the Vatican” skewing its approach towards peace negotiations. Source: The Tablet.
Speaking on August 10 ahead of the planned meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Andrii Yurash said the idea of Russian influence was “very much mythologised and exaggerated”.
“None of the official documents or statements of the Holy See can be taken as pro-Russian,” he said. “We must understand that people, working at the Vatican, come from many different countries and contexts: some of them are from countries which have closer relations with Russia, others are from the absolutely opposite side.
“But at the same time, there is a general policy of the Holy See towards relations with the states, including Russia, and some very stable and historically checked paradigms how to deal with countries in times of war.”
Mr Yurash said Ukraine’s allies had affirmed “the clear position that any discussion related to the end of war and future of Ukraine must include the participation of Ukraine” despite its exclusion from the Alaska talks.
He said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s policy was that “the whole region and the whole continent need to reach peace, but peace in the way that confirms the dominance of international law, the approaches that presuppose restoring the agreements that predominated in Europe since the Second World War”.
Ahead of the Alaska talks, Russia maintained that guaranteeing the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has historic ties to Moscow, would be a necessary condition for any tangible progress towards a ceasefire.
“Humanitarian issues include the Russian language, independence and proper conditions for the development of the Orthodox church, the Christian church in Ukraine. All of this must be discussed and form the foundation of a lasting peace,” Mr Putin said in early August, according to the state news agency TASS.
The plans for Mr Trump and Mr Putin to meet in person renewed hopes for a ceasefire, following the Vatican’s repeated efforts to mediate and Pope Leo XIV’s consistent interest in Ukraine since his election.
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Ukraine ambassador defends Vatican diplomacy ahead of Alaska talks (By Ruta Tumenaite, Andreja Bogdanovski, The Tablet)
