Vatican says Russian aggression must end to allow peace in Ukraine
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The first condition for any negotiations to end the war in Ukraine is that Russia should halt its aggression, the second in command to Pope Francis said in a newspaper interview on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned the papal nuncio on Monday to express “disappointment” with previous comments by Francis that Ukraine should “show the courage of the white flag” and open talks with Russia to end the two-year-old war.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told Corriere della Sera daily on Tuesday that the Vatican was pressing for a ceasefire and “first of all it should be the aggressors who stop firing.”
Francis’ comments, part of an interview recorded last month but made public only on Saturday, triggered very different reactions from NATO and Moscow.
The Kremlin said the pope’s call to end the war was “quite understandable”, but the boss of the Western military alliance said now was not the time to talk about “surrender.”
Attempting to defuse the situation and clarify Francis’ remarks, Parolin said the pontiff wanted “to create the conditions for a diplomatic solution in the search for a fair and lasting peace.”
