It is important for Ukraine to maintain the support of Italy, like any other state whose support was developed despite the Russian disinformation campaign. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated this in an interview with an Italian newspaper. Corriere della Serawhich came out on February 19th.
According to Zelensky, George Meloni, who led the Italian government after Mario Draghi, is “moving in the direction of continuity” in support of Ukraine. He called Italy’s decision to help Ukraine at the beginning of a full-scale war unleashed by Russia an important step, and expressed gratitude for the provided weapons.
The journalist noted that Meloni expressed strong support for Ukraine, but her closest coalition comrades Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini “do not hide their pro-Putin sympathies.” He asked if Ukraine was afraid that Italy would abandon the “European front against Russia.”
Zelensky replied that he considers continued support from Italy to be key to securing assistance from a number of other countries. He expressed confidence that Meloni – “a strong woman who can keep her government.”
According to Zelensky, he will discuss these issues with the Prime Minister of Italy.
He continued that he did not know Berlusconi, but had heard his statements.
“Maybe we should send him something? Does he like vodka? We have it in Ukraine of excellent quality, if he wants, we can give himZelensky added.
In this phrase, Zelensky is a reference to Berlusconi’s statement. In October last year, a scandal erupted in Italy in connection with the publication of Berlusconi’s wiretap. In the published audio recordings, he, in particular, said that he exchanged letters and alcohol with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I started to communicate quite a lot with Putin again, in the sense that for my birthday he sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very nice letter. I responded with several bottles of Lambrusco and also a nice letter,” Berlusconi said.
Berlusconi was Prime Minister of Italy in 1994–1995, 2001–2006 and 2008–2011.
In January 2013, in an interview Euronews he stated that he had “fraternal relations with Putin.” “I think he – the best politician in the world these days,” he said. Berlusconi. In June 2015, Putin received Berlusconi in Russia on a private visit. After this visit Berlusconi stated that Putin offered him Russian citizenship and the post of Minister of Economy.
Since the outbreak of a full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, Berlusconi has repeatedly stated that he was “disappointed” in Putin, but also said that Europe must force Kyiv to accept the demands of the Russian Federation to end the war .
7 September he announced that would like, together with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, “to try to convince and mediate to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia”, and two weeks later said that Putin was “pushed” to invade Ukraine – he allegedly wanted to put Kiev at the head ” decent people.”
On February 12, 2023, Berlusconi said that Ukraine and its leader provoked the current war. “It was enough for him to stop attacking the two autonomous republics of Donbass – and all this would not have happened. So I assess the behavior of this gentleman very, very negatively,” he said. Meloni was told that they “firmly and convincingly” support Ukraine, and the speaker of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, called Berlusconi’s accusations against the Ukrainian president “an attempt to kiss Putin’s hands, which are up to the elbows in blood.”
On February 14, Berlusconi said that “he has always been and remains on the side of the Ukrainian people and the world.”
