Pope Francis refused the distinction between "good and bad" in the war in Ukraine, he was quoted as saying by daily La Stampa, which reported Pope's conversation with editors of Jesuit European cultural magazines.
Asked if he was in favour of Russia's president Vladimir Putin, the Pope answered: "No, I am not, I am simply opposed to reducing complexity to distinction between good and bad".
Pope Francis hopes to meet Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church in September in Kazakhstan, he added.
(Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, editing Cristina Carlevaro)
