Putin tells new pope that Ukraine is bent on escalating conflict
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia June 4, 2025. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS
Putin tells new pope that Ukraine is bent on escalating conflict
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Pope Leo for offering to help settle the Ukraine conflict and told him Kyiv is intent on "escalating" the war, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
A Kremlin statement said they spoke by phone but did not give a date. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the pope offered to host Russia-Ukraine negotiations at the Vatican.
"Gratitude was expressed to the Pontiff for his readiness to help settle the crisis, in particular the Vatican's participation in resolving difficult humanitarian issues on a depoliticised basis," the statement said.
Putin highlighted "that the Kyiv regime is banking on escalating the conflict and is carrying out sabotage against civilian infrastructure sites on Russian territory," the statement said, describing those acts as terrorism.
The Kremlin restated that the conflict's "root causes" must be addressed, a reference to Russian demands that Ukraine adopt a neutral status and NATO rule out eastward expansion.
Russia has sought to cultivate good ties with the new pope and his predecessor, Francis, especially on humanitarian issues, like family reunifications.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other officials have said the Vatican is not a suitable site for peace talks between two largely Orthodox Christian countries.
The Kremlin noted progress at direct talks this week with Ukrainian negotiators on exchanging prisoners and returning the remains of servicemen.
The Russian statement expressed hope the Vatican would "take a more active role" in calling for freedom of religion in Ukraine for members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that has historic links to Russia.
Ukrainian authorities have launched criminal proceedings against many of its clergy because of suspected sympathies for Moscow. A Kyiv-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church has grown larger in Ukraine during the war. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AsiaOne
18 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Putin approves big revamp of Russia's navy, Kremlin aide says, World News
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new naval strategy which aims to fully restore Russia's position as one of the world's leading maritime powers, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview published on Monday (June 9). Russia has the world's third most powerful navy after China and the United States, according to most public rankings, though the navy has suffered a series of high-profile losses in the Ukraine war. Patrushev, a former KGB officer who served with Putin in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg during Soviet times, said the new naval strategy — entitled The Strategy for the Development of the Russian Navy up to 2050 — had been approved by Putin in late May. "Russia's position as one of the world's greatest maritime powers is gradually recovering," Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview. "It is impossible to carry out such work without a long-term vision of the scenarios for the development of the situation in the oceans, the evolution of challenges and threats, and, of course, without defining the goals and objectives facing the Russian Navy," Patrushev said. Patrushev gave no further details about the strategy, though Russia has ramped up spending on defence and security to Cold War levels as a percentage of gross domestic product. A US Department of Defence report said in 2021 that China had the largest navy in the world and that Beijing's overall battleforce is expected to grow to 460 ships by 2030. Open source data suggests Russia has 79 submarines, including 14 nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines, as well as 222 warships. It's main fleet is the Northern Fleet headquartered in Severomorsk on the Barents Sea. [[nid:718863]]
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides
The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for decades, with high suicide rates being a nationwide problem. PHOTO: AFP BEED, India - On a small farm in India's Maharashtra state, Ms Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed himself. Farmer suicides have a long history in India, where many are one crop failure away from disaster, but extreme weather caused by climate change is adding fresh pressure. Dwindling yields due to water shortages, floods, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, coupled with crippling debt, have taken a heavy toll on a sector that employs 45 per cent of India's 1.4 billion people. Ms Mirabhai's husband Amol was left with debts to loan sharks worth hundreds of times their farm's annual income, after the 1ha soybean, millet and cotton plot withered in scorching heat. He swallowed poison in 2024. 'When he was in the hospital, I prayed to all the gods to save him,' said 30-year-old Mirabai, her voice breaking. Mr Amol died a week later, leaving behind Ms Mirabai and three children. Her last conversation with him was about debt. Their personal tragedy is replicated daily across Marathwada, a region in Maharashtra of 18 million, once known for fertile farmland. In 2024, extreme weather events across India affected 3.2 million hectares of cropland – an area bigger than Belgium – according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment research group. Over 60 per cent of that was in Maharashtra. 'Summers are extreme, and even if we do what is necessary, the yield is not enough,' said Mr Amol's brother and fellow farmer Balaji Khindkar. 'There is not enough water to irrigate the fields. It doesn't rain properly.' 'Increase the risk' Between 2022 and 2024, 3,090 farmers took their own lives in Marathwada, an average of nearly three a day, according to India's Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Government statistics do not specify what drove the farmers to kill themselves, but analysts point to several likely factors. 'Farmer suicides in India are a consequence of the crisis of incomes, investment and productivity that you have in agriculture,' said Professor R Ramakumar, professor of development studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Farming across many Indian smallholdings is done largely as it has been for centuries, and is highly dependent on the right weather at the correct time. 'What climate change and its vulnerabilities and variabilities have done is to increase the risks in farming,' Professor Ramakumar said. This 'is leading to crop failures, uncertainties... which is further weakening the economics of cultivation for small and marginal farmers.' The government could support farmers with better insurance schemes to cope with extreme weather events, as well as investments in agricultural research, Professor Ramakumar said. 'Agriculture should not be a gamble with the monsoon.' 'Make ends meet' Faced with uncertain weather, farmers often look to stem falling yields by investing in fertilisers or irrigation systems. But banks can be reluctant to offer credit to such uncertain borrowers. Some turn to loan sharks offering quick cash at exorbitant interest rates, and risking catastrophe if crops fail. 'It is difficult to make ends meet with just farming,' Ms Mirabai said, standing outside her home, a tin-roofed hut with patch-cloth walls. Her husband's loans soared to over US$8,000 (S$10,290), a huge sum in India, where the average monthly income of a farming household is around US$120. Ms Mirabai works on other farms as a labourer but could not pay back the debt. 'The loan instalments piled up,' she said, adding that she wants her children to find jobs outside of farming when they grow up. 'Nothing comes out of the farm.' The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for decades. And while Maharashtra has some of the highest suicide rates, the problem is nationwide. Thirty people in the farming sector killed themselves every day in 2022, according to national crime records bureau statistics. At another farm in Marathwada, 32-year-old farmer Shaikh Imran took over the running of the family smallholding in 2024 after his brother took his own life. He is already more than US$1,100 in debt after borrowing to plant soybean. The crop failed. Meanwhile, the pop of explosives echoes around as farmers blast wells, hoping to hit water. 'There's no water to drink,' said family matriarch Khatijabi. 'Where shall we get water to irrigate the farm?' AFP Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Actor Jared Leto accused of sexual misconduct by nine women
Though Jared Leto's representative has 'expressly denied' the allegations, the actor-musician has yet to respond to them. PHOTO: AFP American actor and musician Jared Leto, who starred in films such as The Suicide Squad (2016) and House Of Gucci (2021), has been accused of sexual assault by nine women as young as 16 at the time of the alleged incidents. These accusations stretch over two decades, in which Leto, 53, is said to have continued to engage with the women. The accusations resurfaced when Los Angeles-based DJ Allie Teilz, 30, reposted one of her Facebook posts from 2012, in which she alleged that Leto had assaulted her when she was 17. She wrote: 'You're not really in Los Angeles until Jared Leto tries to force himself on you backstage… I was assaulted and traumatised by this creep when I was 17.' She described his actions as 'predatory, terrifying and unacceptable', as Leto 'knew her age', but claimed he 'did not care'. A second anonymous victim alleged that Leto approached her at a cafe in Los Angeles in 2006 when she was 16, according to a report by US-based newsletter Air Mail. Leto was said to have struck up a 'quick conversation' with the girl and got her number. According to the woman, their late-night conversations 'turned sexual'. Former model Laura La Rue, 33, also claimed that Leto had 'flirted' with her and 'teased' her when he invited her to his Los Angeles home after they had met at an animal rights benefit when she was 16. During a separate visit, Leto walked out of a room completely naked in front of her, claimed La Rue, who was 17 at that time. 'He just walked out... like it was normal… I thought maybe this was just what adult men do,' La Rue told Air Mail. Leto's representative denied La Rue's claims, stating: 'Their communications contain nothing sexual or inappropriate and Ms La Rue later applied to work as Mr Leto's personal assistant, further underscoring the absence of anything inappropriate in any of their interactions.' Though Leto's representative has 'expressly denied' the allegations, the actor has yet to respond to them. Leto, who made his acting debut in the television series Camp Wilder in 1992, won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for playing a transgender woman in the biographical drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013). In 2024, he performed at the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix as the lead singer of rock band Thirty Seconds To Mars, which he co-founded with his brother Shannon Leto in 1998. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
