Russia threatened Italy on Monday (17), reinforcing that the words spoken by President Sergio Mattarella at the University of Marseille a few days ago “will have consequences”.
The statement was made by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who had already criticized Mattarella last Friday (14) for comparing the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Nazi Third Reich.
“This cannot and will never be left without consequences,” Zakharova warned, as quoted by Ria Novosti, adding that the comment “comes from a person who cannot know how many Italian soldiers killed our grandparents and great-grandparents in our country during World War II under Nazi ideology.”
Furthermore, the Russian spokesperson also questioned “the basis of what was said at the celebration of the 80th anniversary of our victory”.
“This [the victory over the Nazi regime] was woven from the lives of millions of Soviet citizens who not only liberated their homelands and our country, but also liberated them from Nazism,” concluded the representative of Vladimir Putin’s government.
The Quirinale Palace, the seat of the Italian presidency, declined to comment on the new Russian statements.
On February 5, during a speech at the University of Marseille, France, Mattarella compared the war launched by Russia in Ukraine with the “Third Reich project in Europe”, saying that “authoritarian drifts have gained strength in some countries, attracted by the illusion that despotic and anti-liberal regimes were more effective in protecting national interests”.
Furthermore, the president stated that “a growing sense of conflict rather than cooperation has ensued” and that “wars of conquest” remained, as did the Third Reich’s project in Europe. “Russia’s current aggression against Ukraine is precisely of this nature,” the Italian added at the time. (HANDLE)
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