ROME: Russia has lodged a formal protest with the Vatican over Pope Francis' latest condemnation of atrocities in Ukraine, in which the pontiff blamed most of the cruelty on Chechens and other minorities in an apparent effort to spare ethnic Russian troops from criticism.

The Kremlin's ambassador to the Holy See, Alexander Avdeev, told the Moscow-run news agency RIA Novosti that he met with a Vatican official on Monday to express his 'indignation' about Francis' comments, which were contained in an interview with the Jesuit magazine America that was published that day.