Russia slams Pope who labels minority ethnic soldiers ‘cruel’

The Pope’s assertion that some minority groups of soldiers have behaved worse than others during the invasion of Ukraine has been criticised by Russia.

According to an interview with America, Pope Francis stated that Buryats and Chechens typically constitute the “cruellest” troops.

He also called the Holodomor famine in Ukraine in the 1930s, which was caused by the Kremlin, a genocide.

Russia claimed that national groups were “one family” and described the remarks as a “perversion.”

Pope questioned on reluctance to condemn Russia directly

Pope Francis was questioned about his apparent reluctance to directly condemn Russia for the war in an interview with America, a Jesuit publication.

He replied by stating that he had received “much information about the cruelty of the troops.”

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

Pope Francis

The Pope added that “the one who invades is the Russian state”.

‘Majority of Chechens are Muslims’

The majority of Chechens, an ethnic group whose homeland is Chechnya in the southwest of Russia, are Muslims.

Buryats, a Mongol ethnic gathering native to Buryatia, in eastern Siberia, customarily follow Buddhist and shamanic conviction frameworks.

There are numerous republics in Russia with distinct ethnic and religious groups. Orthodox Christianity is the main religion.