Russia’s Lavrov casts doubt on Vatican as venue for Ukraine talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cast doubt on Friday on the Vatican as a potential place for peace talks with Ukraine.

Italy, the pope and the United States had voiced hope the city-state could host negotiations.

The Kremlin said no decision had been taken yet on a location for the next round of talks with Ukraine to end more than three years of conflict, after Moscow and Kyiv met for talks in Istanbul last week.

“It would be a bit inelegant for Orthodox countries to discuss, on Catholic ground, issues related to eliminating root causes (of the conflict),” Lavrov said, accusing Kyiv of “destroying” the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

He added: “For the Vatican itself it would not be very comfortable to, in these circumstances, host delegations from Orthodox countries.”

Moscow has had strained relations with the Vatican for centuries.

Italy has said Pope Leo XIV was ready to host the peace talks after US leader Donald Trump suggested the Vatican as a location.

The Kremlin said on Friday that the location of a venue “cannot be taken by one side.”

“We need the agreement of both sides,” it stressed.

“At the moment there is no decision or agreements on the next negotiation venue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“This decision will be taken when the time is ripe,” he added.

Russia’s role in Ukraine since its 2014 annexation of Crimea has led to Ukrainian believers turning away from Russia’s Moscow patriarchy.

Kyiv created its own Orthodox church, independent from Moscow, in 2018 and banned the Russian-backed branch of the Orthodox church after Russia’s full-scale 2022 offensive.

Russia’s Orthodox Church was created after the 1054 East-West Schism, and Moscow has since had frosty relations with the Vatican.

This continued during the anti-religion Soviet period.

No pope has ever visited Russia.