Symbols sometimes count more than facts. On the military trucks which, in columns, connected Rome to Bergamo last week, the giant stickers decorated with the Russian and Italian flags, side by side, united under the same message - " From Russia, with love " - are a poisoned arrow launched into the old carcass of the European Union.
It is humanitarian aid that resembles a military deployment. Along with China, Russia was the first to respond to calls for help from Italy, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. With a great deal of publicity and propaganda, the Ministry of Defense sent eight medical brigades and a hundred additional soldiers by military transport planes. Virologists, specialists in bacteriological warfare, disinfection equipment and sterilization laboratories to help Italy win the battle against the Covid-19.
Generosity comes at a high price: Russian soldiers move freely on Italian territory, a few steps from NATO bases.
La StampaApplauded by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the initiative
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