ROME (ITALPRESS) – “At a lecture held Feb. 5 at the University of Marseille, the President of the Italian Republic made several offensive statements against our country. He drew outrageous and blatantly false historical parallels between the Russian Federation and Nazi Germany, saying that Russia’s actions in Ukraine ‘are similar in nature’ to the Third Reich’s project in Europe.” This was said by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, attacking Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
“It is strange and absurd to hear such blasphemous inventions from the president of Italy, a country that knows firsthand what fascism really is. The Anti-Comintern Pacts and Berlin provided the Third Reich with an expeditionary force of 235,000 men for the joint aggression against the USSR in 1941,” Zakharova continued, as reported on her Telegram account. That regime in Italy is, together with the Nazis, responsible for the war crimes and genocide of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War.”
“The Italian president should also think about the fact that today Italy, together with other NATO countries, is empowering the neo-Nazi terrorist regime in Kiev with modern deadly weapons, thus unconditionally supporting the criminal regime in all its crimes,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed. “But we also know another Italy. We know Italians who, during World War II, organized themselves into a powerful partisan movement, whose active participants were thousands of Soviets – prisoners of war and deported civilians who fought together with their fellow Italians against fascism and gave their lives for the freedom of Italy and their homeland. Mattarella’s statements insult not only their memory, but also the memory of all Italian anti-fascists, their descendants both in Russia and Italy, and all those who know history and do not accept these inappropriate and unacceptable criminal analogies,” Zakharova concluded.
According to Quirinale sources, regarding Maria Zakharova’s statements, President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella is absolutely calm and refers to the reading of the text pronounced in Marseille on Feb. 5.
Numerous messages of support for the head of state from Italian politics. “I find the statements made by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, inappropriate and out of place. To Head of State Sergio Mattarella, guardian of the values of the Republic and reference point of the Nation, I renew my esteem and express my personal and the Senate’s closeness,” Senate President Ignazio La Russa wrote in a Facebook post.
“I express my solidarity with the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, whose words reflect a strong commitment to peace and to the principles of freedom and democracy,” says House of Representatives Speaker Lorenzo Fontana.
“The insults of the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, who called the words of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, “blasphemous inventions,” offend the entire Italian nation, which the Head of State represents. I express my full solidarity, as well as that of the entire government, with President Mattarella, who has always firmly supported the condemnation of the aggression perpetrated against Ukraine,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a note.
“Solidarity with President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who was attacked by the government in Moscow for strongly and bluntly condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The democratic community fully recognizes itself in the words and actions of the Head of State, guardian of the Constitution and democracy. To him goes my personal gratitude and that of the Democratic Party,” Pd Secretary Elly Schlein said in a note.
“The unacceptable cold attack launched by Moscow against President Mattarella is part of the tireless work of mystification with which Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attempts to pollute the Western debate: we reject it with indignation. To President Mattarella all our esteem and solidarity,” say Enrico Borghi, group leader of Italia Viva in the Senate, Davide Faraone, group leader of Iv in the House, Raffaella Paita, senator and national coordinator of the party, and Ivan Scalfarotto, Iv’s foreign affairs officer.
“President Mattarella’s always sharp and profound words in defense of freedom, democracy and therefore of Ukraine, which must be defended against the aggression of Putin’s Russia, and which brings back to Europe the stigma of the wars of conquest and domination that were the figurehead of the Hitler regime, are called blasphemous by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry. This is a defensive reaction from those who feel stung in the heart, but no less unacceptable . Mattarella defends himself, but we want to express once again our thanks for never backing down from the promotion of freedom in the rule of law, a basic value for Italy and Europe,” says +Europa MP Benedetto Della Vedova.
– IPA Agency Photos –
(ITALPRESS).
