Pope Francis has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election, according to a Russian state media report Sunday.
While many Western governments and leaders condemned the Russian election as a sham involving no meaningful opposition, Leonid Sevastyanov, the head of the World Union of Old Believers, claims the pontiff thought it was worth congratulating Putin on his new six-year term, according to RIA Novosti. “The Pope congratulates Vladimir Putin on his election as President of the Russian Federation,” Sevastyanov, who is reportedly in contact with Pope Francis, was quoted as saying.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Vatican for comment.
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Sevastyanov—who has previously told Russian state media outlets about his conversations with the pope—has been described by Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican as a “personal friend” of the pontiff and an informal contact used to communicate with Moscow.
It comes after the Vatican backtracked on comments Pope Francis made in an interview earlier this month in when he was asked about calls for Ukraine to surrender in its fight against Russian aggression, in which he said he thought “those who have the courage to raise the white flag and to negotiate are stronger.” Amid an angry backlash, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told an Italian newspaper soon after that Russia “should first and foremost cease fire” and said its war in Ukraine is “unjust.”
Putin, who claimed victory Sunday after winning more than 87 percent of the vote, received a telegram of congratulations from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Kim used the message to emphasize that the “Russian people clearly demonstrated to the whole world their will to confidently build a strong Russia,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.
The sentiments were echoed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who claimed that Putin’s stunning margin of victory served as a “full demonstration of the support of the Russian people” of the Russian president, according to Chinese state media. “I believe that under your leadership, Russia will certainly be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction,” Xi added, according to Reuters.
The leaders of other countries with strong historic and current links to Russia—including Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Kazakhstan—have also congratulated Putin. Some South and Central American leaders also shared their felicitations. In a post on X, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro congratulated both Putin and the Russian people for their “extraordinary victory,” praising an “impeccable electoral process” that demonstrated democratic participation “in an exemplary manner.”
Western governments had a dramatically different view of the election, which was conducted as rival candidates were banned from running or jailed, and some voters—in occupied Ukrainian territories—cast their ballots at gunpoint.
“The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him,” the White House National Security Council spokesperson said.
“The pseudo-election in Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody,” Germany’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X. “Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence. The ‘election’ in the occupied territories of Ukraine are null and void and another breach of international law.”
David Cameron, the former U.K. prime minister and current foreign minister, similarly slammed the “illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory” and a lack of international monitoring on the vote. “This is not what free and fair elections look like,” he said.
