Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said his government is willing to talk with Pope Francis, the United States, and France to find a solution to the war in Ukraine.
“We are willing to discuss all this (the situation in Ukraine) with the Americans, with the French, and with the pontiff,” Peskov said during a daily telephone news conference Oct. 25.
The Russian official was referring to the proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron, who on Monday asked the Roman Pontiff to call Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Joe Biden, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to “promote the peace process” in Ukraine.
In a statement to Le Point magazine, Macron said he encouraged “Pope Francis to call Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill, but also Joe Biden. We need the United States to come to the table to promote the peace process in Ukraine.”
Peskov said that “if this really goes in the direction of the efforts to search for possible solutions, it can be positively assessed.”
It is now eight months since Russia began the invasion of Ukraine, a war that has so far taken the lives of more than 6,000 civilians, including nearly 400 children.