Vladimir Putin, whose foreign travel is limited by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, will not attend Pope Franciss funeral, the Kremlin said today.
No. The president has no such plans, Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked if Putin would go to Saturdays funeral.
Vladimir Putin is subject to the ICC warrant for the alleged forced deportation of children during Russias offensive on Ukraine.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as US President Donald Trump, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and a host of other world leaders, are expected to attend the ceremony.
The Vatican announced today that the funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am local time (8am GMT) in the square in front of St Peters Basilica at the Vatican.
Franciss coffin will then be taken inside the church and from there to the Rome basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for burial, in a break from tradition.
Francis died early on Monday, aged 88, following a stroke and cardiac arrest, the Vatican said.
Officials said his death was unrelated to the bout of illness that had seen the Pontiff hospitalised for five weeks earlier this year.
Only on Easter Sunday, the Pope had appeared on the balcony of St Peters Basilica to deliver a blessing to 35,000 faithful in St Peters Square
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured Monday in Moscow) will not attend the funeral
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire following an attack in Mykolaiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, April 17, 2025
World leaders - including both Putin and Zelensky - shared their condolences at the news of the Popes death.
The war in Ukraine became a particularly sensitive issue in both Russia and Ukraine.
For many Ukrainians, the Popes legacy is shaped by his repeated downplaying of the gravity of Ukraines fight for its survival in Russias war of aggression, the Kyiv Independent assessed.
Reuters likewise noted the sense of lingering hurt that the Roman Catholic pontiff had not taken Ukraines side in its war with Russia among Catholics in Ukraine.
The Vatican officially remains neutral, and accordingly Francis stopped short of explicitly calling Russia the aggressor.
But the pontiff did comment in a 2024 interview with a Swiss broadcaster that Ukraine should have the courage of the white flag, and sue for peace to end the conflict with Russia.
He did, however, appeal for Ukrainians not to be left to freeze to death after a meeting with Zelenskyy October 2024, saying: Stop the air strikes against the civilian population and stop the killing of innocent people.
Ties between the Vatican and Moscow were also strained by the war in Ukraine, and Francis showed willing to criticise the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church for his public support of the war - warning Kirill not to become Putins altar boy.
Pope Francis meets with Vladimir Putin in Italy in July 2019
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, stands with Pope Francis, left, before a private audience at the Vatican, October 11, 2024
Attendees react during a funeral for eleven-year-old Maksym Martynenko and his parents Mykola and Nataliia, who were killed by a Russian missile strike on April 13, 2025, in the village of Stare Selo, outside Sumy, northeastern Ukraine
JD Vance (pictured left, on April 20) tried to mend his rocky relationship with Pope Francis (pictured right) at the Vatican on Easter Sunday after the leader of the Catholic church slammed the Trump administrations treatment of illegal migrants
Francis death nonetheless prompted a statement of condolence from Putin, who praised the pontiffs role in sponsoring dialogue between the two churches, and with the Kremlin itself.
It was unlikely Putin would have elected to attend the funeral, despite it taking place in the Vatican City.
While the Vatican is not party to the Rome Statute, and thus not obliged to arrest Putin, Italy is.
Vatican does not have its own airport and Putin would likely have to enter via Italy.
The funeral is expected to attract large crowds, including many international leaders.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who clashed repeatedly with the pope about immigration, said he and his wife would fly to Rome for the service.
Among other heads of state set to attend were Javier Milei, president of Francis native Argentina, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to a source in his office.
As Catholics worldwide mourned Francis, all cardinals in Rome were summoned to a meeting today to decide on the sequencing of events in the coming days and review the day-to-day running of the Church in the period before a new pope is elected.
Pope Francis in his open coffin during the rite of the Confirmation of the Death of the Pontiff at the Chapel of Santa Marta in The Vatican
Francis is pictured in his coffin during the Confirmation of the Death of the Pontiff ceremony last night
The pope moved among some 35,000 faithful on Easter Sunday, hours before he died
Ukrainian forces prepare to fire a howitzer towards Russian troops at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk frontline, during the Russian invasion, on April 6, 2025
A conclave to choose a new pope normally takes place 15 to 20 days after the death of a pontiff, meaning it should not start before May 6.
The exact date will be decided by cardinals after Francis funeral.
Some 135 cardinals are eligible to participate in the secretive ballot, which can stretch over days before white smoke pouring from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel tells the world that a new pope has been picked.
At present there is no clear frontrunner to succeed Francis.