Al Bano asks Giorgia Meloni to lift sanctions on Russia and Moscow takes advantage of this to attack the Italian government. The appeal of the singer from Cellino San Marco was relaunched by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, who shared a video of the artist on Telegram, accompanying it with a long message addressed to the Prime Minister. An intervention that starts from Al Bano’s words on peace in Ukraine and ends up also involving the youth protests in Milan and suspicions of Russian interference.
“Not sanctions but flowers for Russia”, is the singer’s message that Moscow’s diplomacy makes its own, transforming it into an opportunity to contest the Italian government’s line towards the Kremlin.
Al Bano’s appeal to Giorgia Meloni
It all started from a video interview given by the singer to the journalist Antonio Alizzi, intended for the book Vite da tightrope walkers, in preparation for Sandro Teti Editore. The video, released online on October 21, contains a direct appeal to the prime minister. “Dearest Giorgia”, begins Al Bano, recalling the historical, artistic and cultural relations between Italy and Russia. Then he gets to the point: “But why impose sanctions on Russia? But let’s give shares to Russia! Let’s give flowers to Russia! Let’s make sure that this damned war ends.”
The artist also recalls the experience of his father, a veteran of the Second World War, to explain his pacifist position. “I am a man of peace”, he says, before turning again to the Prime Minister: “Dear Giorgia, I love you. I would love you even more if we open the doors to Russia”. Words that could not go unnoticed in Moscow, where Al Bano has enjoyed great popularity for decades and where he has continued to perform in recent years.
Zakharova uses Al Bano to attack Meloni
The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry takes the opportunity to open a new polemical front with Rome. “The famous and popular Italian singer Al Bano, very well known and loved in our country, has made a very sincere and heartfelt public appeal to Giorgia Meloni”, he writes Zakharova on Telegram.
According to the Russian diplomat, the singer invited the prime minister to stop the sanctions, to reopen the doors to Russia and to work for a lasting peace in Ukraine. Then the question: “But will his voice be heard in Rome?”.
The provocation on the protests in Milan and the secret services
Zakharova recalls the clashes that occurred in Milan during youth demonstrations against the high cost of living, which caused devastation and looting. After the violence of October 17 and 18, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto spoke of a possible “hybrid war” fueled through TikTok, YouTube and other social platforms. In the meantime, Italian intelligence is apparently verifying possible foreign interference in the dissemination of calls for mobilization. Some of the suspicious online activities have links to Russian territory, but at the moment there are no conclusive public elements demonstrating that Moscow was behind the clashes. The Russian spokeswoman contests precisely this comparison between the Italian protests and possible foreign interference. “Young Italians protest, a connection with Russia is sought. Italian citizens express discontent, foreign influence is suspected,” writes Zakharova. Then the provocation: “Is Al Bano really the next target of the investigations of the Italian secret services?”. “Where does the search for foreign interference end and where does the reluctance to listen to one’s citizens begin?”, asks Zakharova, concluding that the Italian people and their most illustrious representatives would be “much wiser than their European rulers”.
It is good to remember how Giorgia Meloni recently reiterated that the sanctions against Moscow represent an instrument of pressure to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine and that there is no need to take steps backwards. It should also be remembered that sanctions are decided at European level and cannot be canceled with a simple decision by the Italian government.