Status: 09/23/2022 11:24 am
Italy will elect a new parliament this Sunday. Shortly before that, Forza Italia party leader Berlusconi caused a stir with a claim that Kremlin boss Putin had been “pressed” to invade Ukraine.
Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi caused a stir shortly before the parliamentary elections with a statement about Vladimir Putin. The 85-year-old claimed in a TV interview that the head of the Kremlin had been pressured into invading Ukraine. “Putin was urged by the Russian people, by one party, by his ministers to come up with this special operation,” Berlusconi said on Rai.
“Special operation” is the phrase used by the Kremlin for the war of aggression against Ukraine. Using the term war is a criminal offense in Russia.
Berlusconi is a friend of the Russian President
Berlusconi is a friend of the Russian president and was reluctant to condemn the invasion after the war broke out. Now he said: “Putin has slipped into a really difficult and dramatic situation.”
He uses this expression deliberately because representatives of the two self-proclaimed “republics” in Donbass asked Putin to intervene in February. They persuaded Putin by claiming that Ukraine was attacking the areas more and more violently.
Furthermore, the party leader of Forza Italia, who as a smaller partner in a right-wing coalition has the best chance of winning the elections on Sunday, said Putin wanted to replace Volodymyr Zelensky’s government in Kyiv “with a government of decent people”.
Central candidate: “Really tragic”
The statements of the media entrepreneur, who, in addition to his politics, attracted attention through scandals, alarmed all those who fear that Italy will turn to Russia after the election. In addition to Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini is also part of the right-wing bloc. The head of the Lega was a Putin fan for years and criticizes the West’s sanctions against Moscow.
Central candidate Carlo Calenda called Berlusconi’s appearance “really tragic” and called the Forza Italia founder “something between Putin’s press spokesman and military adviser”. Former Prime Minister Enrico Letta of the Social Democrats tweeted: “There are no words to comment on this.”
Italy’s right-wing parties: “Are ready!”
Italy’s right-wing parties once again demonstrated unity yesterday. Giorgia Meloni in particular incited thousands of supporters in Rome with populist slogans. “We are ready!” shouted the party leader of the nationalist Fratelli d’Italia and possible next prime minister from the stage. “Italy is not afraid,” she claimed, referring to concerns from abroad about an extreme right-wing government in the Mediterranean country. According to all polls, Meloni and her Fratelli are likely to be the strongest single party. The right-wing bloc has an absolute majority in the new parliament.
Old photos with Putin published
In addition, the Russian embassy in Rome provoked with a post on Facebook, in which it published photos of Italian politicians at their meetings with Putin in recent years. Among them were Berlusconi and Salvini, but also other campaigners like Letta, Giuseppe Conte, Matteo Renzi or Luigi Di Maio and even President Sergio Mattarella and predecessor Giorgio Napolitano. “From the recent history of Russian-Italian relations,” it said. “Some we must remember.”