Pope Francis blames 'barking of NATO at Russia's door' for Putin's invasion of Ukraine

Pope Francis said in a recent interview that he believes the “barking of NATO at Russia’s door” provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch the illegal invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

"An anger that I don’t know if you can say was provoked, but maybe facilitated," the Pope told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. 

The spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics also mentioned that he intends “to go to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin” in order to ask him to end the violence against Ukraine, Fox News reported.

Italian reporters also asked Francis about his ties to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch Kirill – a staunch supporter of Putin’s bloody war. Although the patriarch’s stance prompted Francis to cancel their scheduled meeting in Jerusalem, the pope noted he would not break relations with him.

"I had a meeting scheduled with him in Jerusalem on June 14. It would be our second face-to-face, nothing to do with the war," he said.

On the other hand, Francis said he called Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenski "on the first day of the war" and wanted to "make a clear gesture for the whole world to see" with his visit to the Russian embassy to the Vatican.

However, he did not show full support for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, as he considered that "what is clear is that in this war weapons are being tested."

"The Russians now know that tanks are of little use and are thinking of other things. Wars are made for this: to test the weapons we have produced," he warned.

On Tuesday, Slovakia and Hungary said they would not back sanctions against the Russian energy sector prepared by the European Union over the war in Ukraine, as both countries are too dependent on such supplies and have no immediate alternatives.

Likewise, the eventual accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO also generated disagreements.

Germany will support the Nordic countries' accession to the bloc, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Finnish and Swedish Prime Ministers, Sanna Marin and Magdalena Andersson, respectively, on Tuesday.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, however, said he will veto membership if given the opportunity.