Lhe military operations in Ukraine are conditioned by the interests not only of Russia, but also of other countries, Pope Francis told the Italian-Swiss radio and television company RSI. The interview will be released on Sunday 12 March, extracts have been published by Corriere della Sera and other media.
“There are imperial interests there, not only of Russia, but of other empires as well. It is normal for an empire to put nations in second place”, the Pontiff believes.
Francis has called what is happening in Ukraine a “world war”. “In just over a hundred years there have been three world wars: 1914-1918, 1939-1945 and this one. <…> All great powers are intertwined. The battlefield is Ukraine,” she said.
The Pontiff has once again announced that he is ready to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to achieve peace: “I would speak to him as clearly as I speak in public. He is an educated person ».
Previously, the Pope has repeatedly tried to help resolve the conflict. In October he asked Putin to “stop this spiral of violence and death, also for the good of his own people” and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “to be open to serious peace proposals”. Commenting on the fighting, Francis said that military conflict occurs when “the empire begins to weaken”, when there are weapons that can be “used, tested and sold”, and when “there is a lot at stake”.
Does Moscow have imperial interests in Ukraine?
The Pope’s judgment is positive and he certainly set up his judgment in order to be as fair and objective as possible, also in consideration of the existing disinformation panorama of war. However, it is unclear what imperial interests Russia should be aiming for in this conflict. Who now sells exorbitantly priced weapons, blew up Nort Stream 2, allocates huge sums for the war to continue, effectively eliminates competitors in the EU (and around the world) by deindustrialising Europe?