Bloomberg reported, citing Russian officials, that the Russian president will not travel to Italy for security reasons and because Russia does not consider the Vatican to be a neutral party to the conflict.
In addition, the Vatican's participation in the talks also arouses skepticism among the Russian Orthodox Church, which sees the Holy See as a historical rival in Ukraine.
Turkey is more advantageous to Moscow as a platform for discussing the terms of a future peace agreement. At the same time, the Russian newspaper Izvestia writes that the Russian Foreign Ministry does not rule out holding the next round of talks with Ukraine in the Vatican.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump told European leaders after a telephone conversation with Putin that the Russian president was not going to end the war in Ukraine because he believed he was winning, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing its sources.
