The Pope declared his "love for the Russian and Ukrainian peoples"

“I highly appreciate the Russian people, Russian humanism.

It is enough to think of Dostoevsky, who still inspires us to Christianity.

I have love for the Russian people and also for the Ukrainian people,” the Pope said during a press conference on his way to Rome after his apostolic trip to Bahrain.

According to RIA Novosti, he "noted with pain the cruelty" that manifests itself during hostilities, and expressed the opinion that "cruelty is not characteristic of the Russian people."

The Pope also called the manufacture of weapons "the greatest calamity".

“If weapons had not been produced for a year, world hunger would have ended,” he said.

At the end of October, Pope Francis proposed holding talks between Russia and the West on a Ukrainian settlement in the Vatican.