The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs will go to Kiev on Tuesday and then to Moscow on Wednesday, we learned from his ministry on Monday, while the tension on the Ukrainian file between Russia and the West does not decrease.
According to a ministerial source interviewed by AFP, Luigi Di Maio will go to Kiev on Tuesday before going to Moscow the next day.
This second visit had been announced by his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
“We are determined to send Moscow clear, unitary and firm messages in close collaboration with our European partners and allies, NATO and the OSCE, which discourage any aggression or escalation
,” Di Maio said on the sidelines on Monday. of a meeting in Rome with his Qatari counterpart.
“At the same time, we maintain our commitment to a diplomatic and lasting solution within the framework of the Minsk agreements and the Normandy format
,” he added.
Read alsoUkraine: the uncertain mediation of Olaf Scholz to defuse the conflict
Diplomatic Ballet
The announcement of these two trips comes as Russia considered possible on Monday a diplomatic solution to the Russian-Western crisis around Ukraine, at a time when Americans and Europeans fear an imminent invasion of this country by Moscow.
The diplomatic ballet is intense on the spot: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Kiev on Monday to meet the Ukrainian president there before a trip to Moscow, in a new diplomatic attempt to defuse the Russian-Western crisis which is destabilizing European security.
Kiev has officially asked Russia to explain the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers on its borders, in accordance with its commitments within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday within the OSCE.
