Once again, Russia enters the Italian political debate with a straight leg.
And she does it her way: with a provocative post on social media on the day in which parliament is discussing the extension of the shipment of arms to Ukraine.
"Made in Italy. Lince MLV armored car delivered to the Ukrainian army near Artiomovsk (Bakhmut). Are all Italian taxpayers happy with this destination of their money?" writes the Moscow embassy in Rome on Facebook, in footnote to a photo showing a destroyed armored car.
The image is taken from above, probably from a drone, the vehicle appears almost crushed to the ground, the tires flat and stuck in the mud, in the middle of a street in what appears to be a bombed and deserted village, among small wooden houses you shatter.
The Russian diplomatic headquarters, not new to similar macabre and sarcastic posts, suggests that it is a Lince armored car paid for with Italian money and sent to Kiev.
But a site of defense experts, Ukraine Weapons Tracker, had already posted the same image yesterday, explaining that "a Ukrainian MLS Shield armored multipurpose vehicle, eleven of which were purchased in Italy by volunteers, was damaged by a Russian Grad missile in the east" of the country, where in recent weeks the front has stagnated but continues to reap victims.
The weapons tracking site in Ukraine refers to the 11 Shield armored vehicles purchased by Italy last summer from former president Pedro Poroshenko, partly with its own funds and partly with a popular fundraiser.
Furthermore, according to the site, the vehicle in the photo "suffered minor damage, protected the crew and was subsequently recovered".
It would not be a question of a Lynx, therefore, as suggested by the Moscow embassy (also Russia is equipped with Lynxes, thanks to contracts for 200 vehicles concluded in the past years), but another move by Russian propaganda to divide the public opinion on whether or not to continue providing free military aid to Kiev.
A new decree for the one-year extension of the shipment of weapons and equipment to Ukraine will be scheduled by December 31st,
In fact, the oppositions had asked for its removal: the Democratic Party, while reaffirming Ukraine's right to defend itself, had underlined how an issue such as war deserved an ad hoc decree and not "an amendment by the rapporteurs, and not by the government, a decree with a completely different object".
For the M5S "it is a question of democracy. The government has the courage to come to Parliament to explain and face the debate that such a decision requires".
"The government has never hidden itself on the necessary authorizations for sending military vehicles, materials and equipment to Ukraine. We have repeatedly given full and complete availability to report to the Chambers", explained Crosetto after having received guarantees "
ANSA Agency
Moscow, 'Lynx destroyed, Italian taxpayers happy?'
- Europe
Post from the Russian embassy in Rome on the armored car: 'It was handed over to the Ukrainians' (ANSA)