Italian ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (86) has once again raised doubts about the determination of the future government to act against Moscow with statements about his friend Vladimir Putin (70). On Tuesday evening, the LaPresse news agency published a recording of a secretly recorded speech by Berlusconi to Forza Italia party members in parliament. In it, the 86-year-old said he had reconnected with the Kremlin boss and had described him as one of his five best friends.
After the party denied the statements in the afternoon, it was only said in the evening after the audio recording was published that Berlusconi was still on the line with Europe and the US.
A “true friend” for Putin
In the audio recording, the former head of government, whose Forza Italia wants to form the future government as a small partner in a right-wing coalition, said: “I have resumed relations with President Putin a bit, a bit much, so he sent me 20 bottles of vodka for my birthday and a very sweet letter.” Berlusconi then said he had sent Putin Italian wine and “an equally sweet letter”. Putin counted him among “his five real friends”.
Some Italians and Ukrainians are concerned about the Mediterranean country’s support for Kiev in the war against Russia once the new government led by election winner Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia takes office. Just weeks ago, Berlusconi claimed Putin had been pressured to attack.
The new comments, especially about the respective gifts, were initially dismissed as “old stories” by his confidants, including potential future foreign minister Antonio Tajani (69). However, in the recording, which according to LaPresse was made during a meeting of parliamentarians from Forza Italia on Tuesday, Berlusconi speaks explicitly about the war that the West has long entered “because we give Ukraine weapons and money”.
Social Democrat Enrico Letta (56) criticized that the legal alliance was maneuvering Italy into an increasingly unclear position vis-à-vis Russia. He also referred to statements by the new Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana of the long-standing pro-Russian right-wing Lega, who said in a TV interview on Tuesday evening: “We have to be careful with the sanctions: they can boomerang. The Russians were prepared, we in Europe were not.” (SDA)