Russia, Vatican share positions on crisis management - ambassador

VATICAN, July 4. /TASS/. Russia and the Vatican share positions with regard to approaches to resolving many crises, and the good state of relations facilitates interchurch contacts, Russian ambassador to the Vatican Alexander Avdeev on the eve of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his meeting with Pope Francis, which will be held on Thursday. "Russia and the Vatican have similar positions on resolving crisis situations in many hot spots. We are building a political dialogue to effectively counter the risks and threats of our time - terrorism, drug trafficking, the arms race, poverty," the diplomat said. According to him, a high level of relations between states contributes to the development of interchurch dialogue. "This dialogue is based on respect for each other, recognition of equality, non-interference in internal affairs. There is a general understanding that the major problems of the Christian civilization today can be solved, including under the condition of good inter-church and interfaith interaction," Avdeev said. The ambassador also noted goodwill in the personal relationship between Francis and Putin, who will meet for the third time. Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a four-year hiatus, will pay a one-day official visit to Italy and Vatican on Thursday. According to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, the Russian leader will begin his visit with Vatican City. He said that international topics would be touched upon at the talks with Pope Francis. "It is very important to note that the parties approach from close or practically identical positions such important international topics as combating terrorism and religious extremism, preventing environmental and man-made disasters, protecting Christians in conflict zones, upholding common humanist values, developing interreligious, inter-civilizational dialogue," Ushakov said. He noted that the program of Putin’s official visit to Rome includes a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the format of a working breakfast and talks with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, followed by a press conference. The Russian delegation will include ministers and business representatives, in particular, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, Chairman of VEB Igor Shuvalov, Head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, Head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, Head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev. Read more