Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, will visit Moscow from August 25 to 28, according to Bishop Nikolay Dubinin, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow. It will be Gallagher’s second visit to the Russian capital: he first traveled there in November 2021, meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the two men spoke again by phone in April 2025 to discuss the Ukraine conflict and the broader Russian-American dialogue on resolving it. This will be the first visit by a Vatican official to Moscow since Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s trip in June 2023.
Grigory Karasin, chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, welcomed the announcement, saying Russia values visits from officials who come seeking agreements rather than publicity. He said he expects the visit to be viewed positively and hopes Gallagher will bring “specific, interesting proposals” or a useful reading of the current situation, adding that he hopes it produces “positive shifts” or at least lays groundwork for further progress.
