Rome, 22 April (LaPresse) – ‘Once again, the Italian diplomatic authorities have made a blunder by summoning me to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge protests regarding alleged attacks directed by Moscow at Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.’ This was posted on social media by the Russian Ambassador to Italy, Alexey Paramonov. “First of all, Giorgia Meloni is a legitimate head of government, supported by popular consent; she has led the Italian executive for almost four years and, throughout this time, no representative of the Russian authorities has ever made offensive remarks about her or Italy,” he continued. Unlike certain members of the Italian leadership who, at times, allow themselves to make extremely hostile comments and comparisons regarding both the Russian leadership and the Russian Federation in general." ‘The pretext for the summons to the Ministry (the words of a well-known Russian journalist, who is, incidentally, highly capable and popular, spoken on his private online channel) can hardly be considered part of generally accepted diplomatic practice,’ he points out. "No reasonable person would ever think of interpreting anyone’s personal, emotional and private assessments as if they were official statements by a state’s government. Nor should the lexical choices and tone used by a journalist be attributed to the Russian leadership and the entire Russian people. For its part, Russia has never exploited statements about Russia and its leadership made by Italian television presenters, bloggers, journalists and artists as a pretext for diplomatic actions or anti-Italian smear campaigns. It appears that the attempt to inflate this episode into an international and political scandal is the result of action, within the so-called Italian ‘deep state’, by anti-Russian forces linked to Ukraine. There is a clear attempt to pit the peoples of Russia and Italy against one another, to weaken our diplomatic ties, and to inflict further damage on Russia’s image, perhaps to compensate for failures in foreign policy, including Zelensky’s recent, unsuccessful visit to Rome. Last but not least, there is a further attempt to curb the growing number of Italians in favour of a rapid normalisation of bilateral relations and the restoration of full economic and cultural cooperation between Russia and Italy."
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