Pope Francis claims that the war in Ukraine is fueled by the imperial interests of not only Russia, but other parties as well.

As European Truth reports, he said this in an interview with the Swiss-Italian TV and radio company RSI.

The Pope noted that he is ready for a conversation with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

"I would speak to him as clearly as I speak in public. He is an educated man. On the second day of the war, I was at the Russian embassy to the Holy See to say that I was ready to go to Moscow if Putin would leave me a window for negotiations. Lavrov wrote to me that thank you, but now is not the time. Putin knows that I am available," he said.

"But there are imperial interests there, not only the imperial interests of Russia, but also of other empires. It is characteristic of an empire to put nations second," added the Pope.

He characterizes the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine as a world war.

"In a little more than a hundred years, there were three world wars: 14-18th, 39-45th and this one, which is a world war. It started little by little, and now no one can say that it is not a world war. All the great powers are involved in it. The battlefield is Ukraine. Everyone is fighting there," said Francis.

According to him, this makes one think about the arms industry: "There is a war going on, old weapons are being sold, new ones are being tested."

It will be recalled that Pope Francis, speaking two days before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, called for a ceasefire and peace talks, saying that no victory can be "built on ruins."