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Pope not cancelling envoy Cardinal Zuppi's visit to Russia — Union of Old Believers

It is noted that the envoy will fly to Moscow tomorrow or the day after tomorrow

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Pope Francis has no plans to cancel the planned visit to Russia of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, papal envoy for achieving a settlement in Ukraine, after Saturday's attempted armed mutiny, and the cardinal may arrive in Moscow in the next two days, Leonid Sevastianov, chairman of the World Union of Old Believers, told TASS on Monday, citing a personal conversation with the pontiff.

"The Pope has just written that despite this incident with the attempted coup, he is not cancelling Zuppi's visit to Russia. His envoy will fly to Moscow tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," Sevastianov stated.

On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), alleged on his Telegram channel that Wagner units were attacked, accusing Russia’s top brass of complicity in the situation. The Defense Ministry in turn termed the information as fake. PMC units, supported by Prigozhin, headed for Rostov-on-Don and then toward Moscow. The FSB opened a criminal case concerning a call for armed insurrection. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Wagner’s actions a betrayal in a televised address. Later, by agreement with Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin, following which the Wagner fighters stood down and retreated to their base camp. The Kremlin later clarified that criminal charges would be dropped against Prigozhin, who would "leave for Belarus." In addition, according to Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the authorities will not prosecute those Wagner group members who took part in the mutiny, "in light of their frontline services."

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