Italy’s former prime minister and leader of the Force Italia party, Silvio Berlusconi, has maintained Sunday that Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelenski should not have «attacked» the Donbas region, blaming Kiev for Russia’s invasion of the country.
Two days after the European Union summit meeting in Brussels of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with her Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski, Berlusconi assured that he would not have attended the meeting because of the «devastation» of Ukraine and the «slaughter» of its soldiers and civilians.
«Me talking to Zelenski? If I had been prime minister, I would never have gone there because we are witnessing the devastation of his country and the slaughter of its soldiers and civilians,» he said after voting in Milan in the regional elections in Lombardy, as reported by ‘Corriere della Sera’.
«(It was enough for Zelenski) to stop attacking the two autonomous republics of Donbas and this would not have happened, so I judge very, very negatively the behavior of this gentleman,» he has continued.
In this sense, the leader of Forza Italia – one of the political formations supporting Meloni’s government – called on the Ukrainian president to cease fire on the front against Russia, while proposing that the United States stop financing arms to Kiev.
«To reach peace I think that the American president (Joe Biden) should talk to Zelenski and tell him ‘a Marshall plan is at your disposal after the end of the war to rebuild Ukraine’ (…) but on one condition, that tomorrow you order the cease-fire, because from tomorrow we will not give you any more money nor will we give you any more weapons,» reiterated the three-time Italian prime minister.
The words of Berlusconi, who has previously expressed hostile positions towards the Ukrainian leader and towards Ukraine, were immediately rejected by the opposition, even leading the government to clarify its support for Kiev.
«Does Giorgia Meloni agree with the disturbing words uttered by Berlusconi on the Ukrainian war?», asked the senator of the social-democratic Democratic Party (PD) Simona Malpezzi, as reported by the RAI channel.
The PD senator said that the former Prime Minister has officially sided with «Putin’s Russia», warning the Italian government that, «with these allies», «it should not complain about how Italy is treated in the European Union».
Angelo Bonelli, leader of the Greens political formation, has expressed himself along the same lines: «Berlusconi’s words about Zelenski are also those of (Matteo) Salvini and now it is even clearer why Prime Minister Meloni is isolated in Europe, because with the allies she has, no one trusts anyone who has a direct channel with Putin».
In view of this, the Italian government has issued a brief statement reaffirming its support for Ukraine and disassociating itself, once again, from the words of the leader of Forza Italia.
«The support for Ukraine on the part of the Italian Government is firm and convinced, as clearly stated in the program and confirmed in all parliamentary votes of the majority supporting the Executive,» has clarified Palazzo Chigi hours after the words of the leader of Forza Italia, as reported by And Kronos.
UKRAINE’S RESPONSE For their part, the Ukrainian authorities have rejected these statements and have reproached Berlusconi for spreading «Russian propaganda» and encouraging the Kremlin «to continue its crimes».
«He has a political and moral responsibility,» said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko in a post on his Facebook profile, in which he called these words ridiculous and nothing more than Berlusconi’s way of «kissing the bloodstained hands» of President Putin.
They are «attempts to demonstrate his loyalty to the Russian dictator,» said Nikolenko, who, making a parallel, recalled how Berlusconi «before the television cameras kissed the hands» of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, «as a sign of loyalty,» sharing an image of the moment.
However, he has welcomed the speed with which the Government has disregarded these «unacceptable» statements, highlighting «the unwavering support» to Ukraine that Meloni has promised.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
