Russian soldiers from ethnic minorities are 'more cruel' in Ukraine war, says Pope

Pope Francis walks past a Vatican Swiss Guard as he arrives to meet with members of the Italian Schools for Peace Network in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) - AP
Pope Francis walks past a Vatican Swiss Guard as he arrives to meet with members of the Italian Schools for Peace Network in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) - AP
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Listen to our daily podcast "Ukraine: The Latest" below to hear the Telegraph's experts analyse the Pope's comments. Alternatively, search for the podcast in your preferred podcast app. 

Pope Francis has invoked the wrath of Moscow after accusing soldiers from two of Russia’s ethnic minorities, the Chechens and the Buryats, of behaving with particular cruelty in Ukraine.

The Pope was asked in an interview why he had seemed unwilling to criticise Russia and President Vladimir Putin explicitly for the violence and atrocities carried out during the nine-month invasion.

He said the people of Ukraine were being “martyred” by the invading Russian forces, who have been accused of multiple human rights abuses, from rape and torture to murder.

“When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in,” he told ‘America’, a prominent Jesuit publication in the US.

“Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryats and so on.

“Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to offend and rather condemn in general, although it is well known whom I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put a name and surname (to it).”

Buryats, an ethnic Mongolian group who live in eastern Siberia, were among the Russian troops who occupied villages and towns outside Kyiv in the first weeks of the invasion.

Ethnic minorities like the Buryats are often disproportionately represented in the Russian armed forces because the military offers them an escape from their economically depressed regions.

Most recent findings show that the massacres in Bucha and other towns in the first months of the war were carried out by various military units rather than by one ethnicity.

Russians across the political spectrum lashed out at the Pope for what they said were racist remarks.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, on Tuesday dismissed the Pope’s comments as “absurd” and sought to remind him of the tenets of Christianity.

“I would like to remind our Catholic brothers that the Bible says: all people have one Father: this should put an end to all talk based on xenophobia, racism and nationalism,” she said.

Alexander Avdeev, Russia’s ambassador to the Vatican, on Tuesday issued a note of protest to express “indignation against the strange remarks attributed to Pope Francis”.

Mr Avdeev said Moscow was angered by the references to “alleged atrocities by Russian forces” and added that “no one will succeed in casting doubt on the unity of the multi-ethnic Russian nation.”

Anti-war activists from Buryatia have been among the most vocal in protesting against the invasion of Ukraine.

“I’m really sorry that the Pope turned out to be a racist: he pinned ‘particular cruelty’ on one ethnicity,” Alexandra Garmazhapova, head of the Free Buryatia foundation, told a Russian radio show on Tuesday.

“If the Pope truly cared about Ukraine, he would use his enormous influence and make a genuine effort to get the whole world to rally around Ukraine.”

Mariya Vyushkova, Free Buryatia’s research director, who also works at a Catholic university in the United States, said she was “shocked and saddened” by the Pope’s remarks.

“I also find it very strange that Pope Francis blames ‘Chechens and Buryats’ for the war in Ukraine but avoids naming and blaming Vladimir Putin and appears to promote the ‘both sides’ narrative regarding Russia and Ukraine,” she said in a Facebook post on Monday night.