Even with context it looks like a foul take.
Francis added that a few months earlier than the battle he met a head of state, who he didn’t establish however described as “a clever man who speaks little, a really clever man certainly … He instructed me that he was very fearful about how Nato was shifting. I requested him why, and he replied: ‘They’re barking on the gates of Russia. They don’t perceive that the Russians are imperial and may’t have any overseas energy getting near them.’”
He added: “We don’t see the entire drama unfolding behind this battle, which was, maybe, someway both provoked or not prevented.”
Appears that the motion which “provoked” Russia was Ukraine making an attempt to hitch NATO. Thus “barking on the gates of Russia”.
This isn’t an inexpensive trigger for an invasion.