ROME, November 8. /TASS/. Russia highly appreciates the humanitarian mediation efforts of Pope Francis, including in the prisoner of war swap, Russian envoy to the Vatican Alexander Avdeev told the Askanews agency, commenting on the pontiff's work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
"The release of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian side or their exchange takes place, among other things, taking into account the lists handed over to us by Pope Francis. In this context, we appreciate the personal work of the pontiff, who is carrying out a humanitarian mission of considerable importance, which allows hundreds of people to return to their families," the diplomat said.
Francis said upon his return from the Kingdom of Bahrain that the Holy See was doing everything necessary and had achieved a lot, including with regard to the prisoner swap. According to him, the Vatican "has held many confidential meetings that have yielded good results.".