Kremlin seeks to exert influence on Pope Francesco and use the Catholic Church for shaping popular opinion in predominantly Catholic nations.
That is why Moscow appointed Ivan Soltanovsky as ambassador to the Vatican. Mr. Soltanovsky used to serve as Russia’s Deputy Ambassador to NATO, an intelligence officer operating under cover. His readiness to fulfill complex ideological tasks, and his active position are the possible reasons for this appointment.
He was expelled from NATO headquarters and Brussels among other Russian intelligence officers, which is indirect confirmation of his affiliation with intelligence. Then he was appointed Russia’s permanent representative to the European Council in Strasbourg in 2015, ignoring the unspoken rule not to appoint expelled diplomats to diplomatic posts within the NATO. This rule might have been violated due to Soltanovsky’s high ranking in Russian intelligence and some special tasks he has to fulfill.
We believe Moscow expects Soltanovsky to become a key link in a chain of trust that has to be established between the Kremlin and the Pope.
Soltanovsky’s major task at the Vatican is to prepare the meeting of Pope Francesco with Patriarch Kirill. Russia believes the meeting itself is an opportunity to demonstrate that Russia is not isolated, and the Kremlin is «sinless», as after the meeting it will boast of the papal blessing for the regime, with Pope’s favor used for propaganda and information operations in the Catholic nations of Europe and the U.S.
IfSoltanovsky should also establish communication with European leaders, and use the church to convince European elites that it is important to lift sanctions against Russia.
The Kremlin believes it has dirt on Pope Francesco. The Russian station in Argentina could have informed Moscow of Francesco’ alleged past involvement in the Guardia de Hierro, a secret group that supported the dictator Peron, with the aim to return the ousted president to power. The credibility of this information is uncertain.
Moscow is likely to go through Cardinal Zuppi to try to probe whether the Vatican is sensitive to this information, as he actively communicates with the Russian Church and visited Moscow. Compliments by Francesco to Russia since the last time things got heated with the West on February 24, 2022, are possibly related to his ecumenical cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church. Direct channel for getting information from Russia allows the Kremlin to deceive the Vatican, relying on imaginary trust. It means that Russians professionally use the political views of Francesco, as the Peronist, his criticism of the West, as a leftist, to assess current situation. With parallels between Putin’s political views, formed in Soviet era, and the views of Francesco, as an Argentinian, Moscow seems to succeed in infiltrating its narratives into the heads of the Vatican leaders.
