MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis.
"Putin [laid out] a detailed excursion, genesis, course and possible prospects for the conflict in Ukraine. Overall, the sides agreed that, unfortunately, all sides without an exception and all countries in Europe pay too high a price for the ongoing intra-Ukrainian conflict," Peskov said.
Russian, Italian Presidents Discuss Need for Development of Bilateral Relations
Russian and Italian presidents discussed the necessity of maintaining the rate of bilateral cooperation, not letting the relations become affected by external political factors, Kremlin spokesperson added.
"They discussed the necessity of maintaining the rate of bilateral relations in all spheres, not allowing the bilateral relations to become hostage of various difficulties which are being witnessed currently," Peskov said.