Russia's Ambassador to the Vatican Alexander Avdeev told reporters on Tuesday that he had protested to the Holy See diplomatic corps against Pope Francis' Russophobic remark that Russia's ethnic minority soldiers were "the cruelest" in the military conflict in Ukraine.

"I have expressed outrage at such insinuations and noted that nothing can shake the cohesion and unity of the multinational Russian people," Avdeev said.

In similar comments, Magomed Daudov, the chairman of the regional parliament of the Chechen Republic, Russia's federal subject, said the pope's statements were exemplary of "primitive reasoning," and that not a single case of a war crime had been committed by Chechens and Buryats in Ukraine.

The Pope is afraid of Buryats... https://t.co/g9xM4WxFb5

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) November 28, 2022

"If he had bothered to listen to inhabitants of the liberated territories, he would have learned that the Chechen fighters, just like the Buryats and representatives of hundreds of other peoples of Russia, have become saviors for these people. But no, it's easier to speak out in line with the US agenda. How can a spiritual leader, whose diocese includes representatives of most peoples of the world, allow himself to reason on the national issue in such a primitive way?!" Daudov said on Telegram.

Yesterday, Pope Francis said in an interview with America Magazine that soldiers "who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati" have so far been "the cruelest" since Moscow's military operation began in Ukraine earlier this year.

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