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World

Russia: Nothing to discuss with Nato; Pope kisses Ukrainian flag

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes at Egmont Palace, in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters)

Russia has no contact with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) as Moscow and the alliance have nothing to discuss now, Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said.

"There is nothing to discuss with Nato," the TASS news agency quoted Alexander Grushko as saying on Wednesday.

However, Russia wants to maintain diplomatic relations with Western countries despite a series of expulsions of its diplomats, Grushko said.

Several European countries including France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy have expelled large numbers of Russian diplomats in recent days.

The moves coincide with outrage across Europe over reports of the discovery of mass graves and of civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha following the retreat of Russian forces conducting what Moscow calls its "special operation" in Ukraine.

Grushko told Interfax that Russia, which has pledged to respond to the expulsions, was assessing the decisions by European countries.

"Nevertheless, our position remains absolutely the same: we advocate for diplomatic channels to remain open."

He said European countries disrupting the work of Russian diplomats were damaging their own interests and warned against any potential action against the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic seaboard.

"I really hope that common sense in Europe will not allow any games to be started around Kaliningrad," Grushko said. "I think many understand that this would be playing with fire."

- Pope kisses Ukrainian flag -

On Wednesday, Pope Francis condemned "the massacre of Bucha" and kissed a Ukrainian flag sent from the town where tied bodies shot at close range littered the streets after Russian troops withdrew and bodies poked out of a mass grave at a church.

Pope Francis holds a flag of Ukraine that comes from the city of Bucha, one of the areas around Ukraine's capital from which Russian troops have withdrawn and where dozens of bodies in civilian clothing have been found, during the weekly general audience on Wednesday at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican. (Photo: AFP)

The deaths in Bucha, outside Kyiv, have triggered a global outcry and pledges of further sanctions against Moscow from the West.

"Recent news from the war in Ukraine, instead of bringing relief and hope, brought new atrocities, such as the massacre of Bucha," Francis said at the end of his weekly audience in the Vatican's auditorium.

"Stop this war! Let the weapons fall silent! Stop sowing death and destruction," he said, decrying cruelty against civilians, defenceless women and children.

The Kremlin says allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians including in Bucha were a "monstrous forgery" aimed at denigrating the Russian army.

Francis said the darkened and stained flag, which had writing and symbols on it was brought to him from Bucha on Tuesday.

"It comes from the war, precisely from that martyred city, Bucha," he said, kissing it and holding it up for the audience of several thousand, which broke into applause.

He then asked a group of children war refugees who arrived on Tuesday from Ukraine to come up to him.

"These children had to flee in order to arrive in a safe land. This is the fruit of war. Let's not forget them and let's not forget the Ukrainian people," he said, before giving each child a gift of a chocolate Easter egg.

Speaking in the earlier part of his audience about the post-World War Two period, Francis said: "In the war in Ukraine, we are witnessing the impotency of the United Nations".

During a trip to Malta at the weekend, Francis said he was considering a trip to Kyiv and implicitly criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, saying a "potentate" was fomenting conflict for nationalist interests.

Francis has only mentioned Russia specifically in prayers, such as during a special global event for peace on March 25, but he has referred to Russia by using terms such as invasion and aggression.

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