In its declared war on human traffickers,
Italy aims at Russia, and the mercenaries of Wagner in the pay of Moscow.
With their influence in North Africa, it is the reasoning of many voices of the government, they use the flows of migrants as a hybrid weapon, and the intervention of the EU and NATO is needed.
After the tensions over the decree passed in Cutro, the center-right unites behind this message, on the day in which Giorgia
Meloni brings together all the ministers interested in the dossier
and the heads of the secret services at Palazzo Chigi, bringing back to the table the hypothesis of greater coordination on the maritime surveillance for the identification of boats in extraterritorial waters.
With the involvement, therefore, of the Navy, which has the appropriate skills and technological tools.
Faced with the alarmist scenarios on the Mediterranean, the government seeks countermeasures but rejects the opposition's attacks.
"We have been accused of gruesome things but my conscience is clear - the premier clarified, speaking alongside the Secretary of State of the Holy See Pietro Parolin -. The more people leave and put themselves in the hands of cynical traffickers, the more there is the risk that something goes wrong: I don't think this can ever be the right, humane and responsible way to deal with the matter. Perhaps it would be easier to put one's head in the sand, let the mafiosi decide who should come to us, let them come only those who have the money to pay them, let the mercenaries of Wagner and the fundamentalists continue to gain a foothold in Africa".
ANSA Agency
Wagner's Mercenaries in Africa and the Middle East - World
From Syria to Mali, support General Haftar in Libya (ANSA)
But, it is the implicit conclusion, one cannot.
Meloni criticizes those who have had "fluctuating positions" in foreign policy in the past: "not choosing is more profitable. I thank God for being forced to make choices", in a crisis situation which "is also a time to get rid of the waste" .
So the reference to mercenaries is anything but casual, in a climax of positions.
"Russia is creating a migratory bomb", begins Northern League supporter Massimiliano Romeo.
For Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani "many migrants arrive from areas controlled by Wagner and I would not like there to be an attempt to push migrants towards Italy".
"The exponential increase" of departures,
warns Guido Crosetto, is "not indifferently,
part of a clear hybrid war strategy that the Wagner division, mercenaries in the pay of Russia, is implementing, using its significant weight in some African countries". A problem "highlighted by insiders and an alert in this sense was already come from services such as from Copasir", the defense minister then specified, replying to Angelo Bonelli (Avs), who invited him to "be ashamed" for those words. The minister also received a heavy insult in Russian (mudak) from the head of Wagner , Yevgeny Prigozhin: "He should look less in other directions and deal with his own problems, which he probably could not solve.
We are not aware of what is happening with the migration crisis, we do not deal with it, we have a lot of our own problems to deal with".
ANSA Agency
In Pozzallo, the survivors of the shipwreck in front of Libya - Chronicle
The rules node.
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In the government, however, there is the belief that Russian influence is one more reason to strengthen control over the southern flank of Europe, as has already happened in the east. Also because under the seabed of the migratory routes, in the Strait of Sicily and in the Adriatic, increasingly frequented by Russian ships, gas pipelines run, strategic energy communication lines for Italy and beyond.
"The EU, NATO and the West - Crosetto says - should understand that even the southern European front is becoming more dangerous every day".
Also from this point of view we can read the return of relevance of the hypothesis of giving a leading role to the Navy in maritime surveillance, removed from the final version of the legislative decree passed in Cutro because there was no agreement in the executive.
It is not clear whether it will be transferred in a provision, or in an amendment to the decree during the examination in the Senate.
Alternatively, it is reasoned in government circles, it could be put on the negotiating table at the European level.
In fact, Palazzo Chigi has been asking Brussels and its partners for some time to strengthen the control of maritime borders.
