Kremlin: No agreement reached on possible meeting between Putin, Pope

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that no agreement had been reached on a possible meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis for talks about Ukraine.

Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday that he had asked for a meeting in Moscow with Putin to try to stop the war in Ukraine but had not received a reply.

Francis, who made an unprecedented visit to the Russian embassy when the war started, told the newspaper that about three weeks into the conflict, he asked the Vatican's top diplomat to send a message to Putin.

The message was "that I was willing to go to Moscow. Certainly, it was necessary for the Kremlin leader to allow an opening. We have not yet received a response and we are still insisting."

"I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have this meeting at this time. But how can you not stop so much brutality? Twenty-five years ago in Rwanda we lived through the same thing," Francis was quoted as saying, appearing to equate the killings in Ukraine to the genocide in the African country in 1994.

Before the interview, Francis, 85, had not specifically mentioned Russia or Putin publicly since the start of the conflict on Feb. 24. But he has left little doubt which side he has criticized, using terms such as unjustified aggression and invasion and lamenting atrocities against civilians.

The Pope said that perhaps Putin reacted because of "NATO's barking at Russia's gate...I wouldn't know if this provoked an ire but perhaps it facilitated it."

Asked about a trip to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which Francis last month said was a possibility, the pope said he would not go for now.

"First, I have to go to Moscow, first I have to meet Putin...I do what I can. If Putin would only open a door," he said. — Reuters