In late November, Pope Francis described Chechens and Buryats as the “cruelest” in the Russian army. Moscow reacted with outrage to the statement. Now the Vatican is rowing back.
The Vatican has apologized to Moscow over a controversial remark by Pope Francis about alleged atrocities committed by Russian minorities in the Ukraine war. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed statements by Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. There were “diplomatic contacts in this direction,” Bruni said.
The Pope said in an interview at the end of November that some of the “cruelest” members of the Russian army in Ukraine may be those who “do not belong to the Russian tradition” but belong to minorities such as “the Chechens, the Buryats and so on”. . Chechnya is a Caucasus republic with a predominantly Muslim population. Buryatia is a Buddhist region in Siberia between Lake Baikal and Mongolia.
The Pope’s statements had caused outrage in Moscow. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the comments as “unchristian”. “Pope Francis is calling for talks but recently made an incomprehensible statement, completely unchristian, in which he placed two Russian nationalities in a category from which atrocities can be expected during hostilities,” Lavrov said on television. “Obviously this does not serve the cause and authority of the Holy See,” he said.
After the Kremlin announced the partial mobilization of hundreds of thousands in September, accusations were leveled against Moscow that a particularly large number of men from ethnic minorities in Siberia and the Caucasus region were being called up. Kremlin critics say minorities from impoverished and isolated regions are dying in greater numbers than ethnic Russians.
Critics also accused a unit from Buryatia of having played a central role in the killing of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine. Russia rejected the allegations and spoke of a “staging” of Ukraine and its western allies.
