Unusual diplomat: the new Russian ambassador to the Vatican may be an intelligence officer

A new ambassador to the Vatican has been appointed in Russia/Channel 24 Collage

A new ambassador to the Vatican has been appointed in Russia. It could be an intelligence officer working undercover.

Russia has appointed Ivan Soltanovsky as ambassador to the Vatican. According to the Lithuanian publication, it was he who was sent to NATO fourteen years ago as an intelligence officer.

An unusual diplomat

Experts say that this purpose indicates about the importance of the Holy See for Russia, so they urge the West not to underestimate the influence of the Vatican on world politics.

Ivan Soltanovsky is an unusual diplomat. Until 2009, he was Russia's deputy ambassador to NATO, but believes that he worked not only as a diplomat.

“According to the NATO security office, among them were people working undercover,” said Linas Linkevičius, ambassador of Lithuania to NATO in 2005-2011.

Another diplomat at the Lithuanian embassy at that time also remembers Soltanovsky.

He was such a serious person, and his for some reason there were a lot everywhere,” says Romualdas Vaišnoras, a diplomat at the Lithuanian mission to NATO in 2008-2009.

According to him, such behavior is unusual for a diplomat of this rank.

Soltanovsky’s career in NATO ended with the first wave of expulsion of Russian intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover. And although there is an unwritten rule according to which diplomats expelled from NATO are not allowed into any member of the alliance, in 2015 Soltanovsky was appointed Russia's permanent representative to the European Council in Strasbourg.

“He was well known in NATO and other countries, it would be difficult not to know the specifics of his career,” says Linkevičius.

After Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe due to a full-scale war in Ukraine, Soltanovsky’s career returned to the Vatican.< /p>

Vatican diplomacy works quietly

This is a clear signal that Russia takes this position very seriously. The new ambassador is called one of the deans of the Russian Foreign Ministry. This means that a person is appointed who is highly expected, says Juozas Ruzgis, director of Bernardinai.lt.

And, according to diplomats, you can really get something from the Vatican.

“The Holy See is the center of power, they exert influence throughout the world. You should not assume that the Vatican only holds masses and talks about spiritual matters and has no influence on diplomatic processes,” assures Linkevičius.

Experts say that Vatican diplomacy, above all, works quietly.

One such case: the Vatican envoy, Cardinal Mateo Zuppi, met with Moscow’s children’s rights inspector, Maria Belova. Although the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for her arrest for the illegal movement of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Cardinal Zuppi, who is called a veteran of peace initiatives, has already visited Moscow, Kiev, Washington and Beijing. It is reported that his trip to Moscow is planned again.

The main position of the Vatican is to save as many people as possible, as many lives as possible and to save its believers, says Ruzgis.

But now that the Vatican has accepted a suspected Russian spy as its ambassador, diplomats are raising eyebrows. According to Linkevičius, Soltanovsky is meeting with the Pope and discussing how to achieve peace in Ukraine.

“We should not only watch how Russian spies infiltrate the diplomatic corps, but also actively participate and try to do so influence,” says the diplomat.

Moreover, Russia's desire may be to try to influence South America and Africa through the Catholic Church, where there are already more Catholics than in Europe.

Vatican on Russia's war against Ukraine

• On August 25, during the All-Russian meeting of Catholic youth in St. Petersburg, the pontiff expressed his scandalous statement, where he glorified the terrorist country and its imperialists. He called on Russians not to give up their inheritance. In an address to Russian Catholics, the Pope praised Peter I and Catherine II and said that the Russians are the heirs of the “great empire.” These words caused outrage among the Ukrainian community, and the Kremlin praised the pontiff for his knowledge of history. The Pope admitted that he had formulated his opinion incorrectly when he spoke about the “greatness of Russia.” He stated that he did not at all think that his words would be interpreted as a justification of imperialism.
• The Pope's envoy to Russia told the details of his visit to Moscow. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi emphasized that his mission was humanitarian. So, they say, there were no discussions of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. The emissary's visit concerned something else. Note that in Moscow, Zuppi met with one of the advisers to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. He is soon to meet with Pope Francis and report on the results of his mission.
• The Pope's special representative left for China on September 12. Everything seems to be for the “settlement” of the war in Ukraine. This is supposedly the last “peacekeeping mission” to resolve Russia’s war against Ukraine.