Putin knows that I am available. I would speak clearly with him, as I speak publicly. He is an educated man.

Axar.az reports that the Pope’s stated this in an interview with the Italian-language Swiss television Rsi.

Francis asked what he would say to the president of Russia Vladimir Putinif he met him, he replied that “he would speak clearly with him, as he speaks in public”. “He’s an educated man,” the pope said of the Russian leader. He recalled that on the second day of the war during a visit to the embassy Russia he declared his readiness to go to Moscow if Putin “left a window to negotiate”. He added that the boss of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov wrote that he thanked him, but “this is not the time for that.”

– Putin knows that I am available. But there are imperial interests, not only of the Russian empire, but also of other empires, he said. “It’s imperial style to put nations second,” he said. The Pope repeated the opinion that a “world war” is underway. “It started with bits and pieces, and now nobody can say it’s not worldly,” he said.