The diplomatic clash between Italy and Russia triggered by the insults that the host Vladimir Solovyev directed at the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni takes center stage. After the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Farnesina, the spokeswoman for the Moscow Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, intervened in the case and did not send word. Italy, he explained to journalists, was “confused by its own propaganda” and should ask itself “which side of history it is on”.
Zakharova: “Italy provides money and weapons to the Kiev regime”
“They were intoxicated by their own propaganda” underlined Zakharova, clarifying the concept further. “They have allowed the Western media, oriented towards Washington and London, to deceive them for years.”
“When they insult our country, and they do it at the level of government representatives, from their point of view it is not only normal, but we don’t even have the right to express any displeasure,” Zakharova continued. “And if we express the same disappointment” at the fact “that Italy provides money, weapons and supports the Kiev regime in every possible way, leading to the killing of children, the wounding of children, the death of so many people and civilians, this is a valid reason to summon the Russian ambassador.”
“It’s not about double standards, it’s about the absence of standards” concluded the spokeswoman, adding that Moscow still hopes for “a dialogue based on mutual respect”.
The Russian ambassador: “Italy has made a mistake”
The Russian ambassador Alexey Paramonov instead responded to Rome’s requests for explanations by stating that the Italian diplomatic authorities had “made a mistake by summoning me to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs”. “Meloni is a legitimate head of government – said Paramonov – and no representative of the Russian authorities has ever expressed offensive judgments towards him or Italy – he wrote -. No reasonable person would ever think of interpreting anyone’s personal assessments as official declarations of the government of a state”.