Berlusconi excited: Putin was urged to go to war

Created: 2022-09-23Updated: 2022-09-23 11:27 am

Italy will elect a new parliament on September 25, 2022.

© Oliver Weiken/dpa

Shortly before the elections in Italy, ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi caused a stir with a statement on the war in Ukraine.

Now there is growing concern that Italy will give Russia a hand - should the election result turn out accordingly.

Rome - Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi caused a stir shortly before the parliamentary elections with a statement about Vladimir Putin.

In a TV interview on Thursday evening, the 85-year-old claimed that the head of the Kremlin had been pressured into invading Ukraine.

"Putin was urged by the Russian people, by a party, by his ministers to come up with this special operation," Berlusconi said on Rai.

Berlusconi is a friend of the Russian president and was reluctant to condemn the invasion after the war broke out.

Now he said: "Putin has slipped into a really difficult and dramatic situation." He used this expression deliberately because Putin had been asked by representatives of the two self-proclaimed republics in Donbass in February to intervene.

They persuaded Putin by claiming that Ukraine was attacking the areas more and more violently.

Statements raise concerns about Italy's proximity to Russia

Furthermore, the party leader of Forza Italia, who, as a smaller partner in a right-wing coalition, has the best chance of winning the elections on Sunday, said that Putin wanted to replace Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government in Kyiv "with a government of decent people".

The statements of the media entrepreneur, who, in addition to his politics, attracted attention through scandals, alarmed all those who fear that Italy will turn to Russia after the election.

In addition to Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini is also part of the right-wing bloc - the head of the Lega was a Putin fan for years and criticizes the West's sanctions against Moscow.

Central candidate Carlo Calenda called Berlusconi's appearance "really tragic" and called the Forza Italia founder "something between Putin's press spokesman and military adviser".

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Former Prime Minister Enrico Letta of the Social Democrats tweeted on Friday: "There are no words to comment."

On Thursday, the Russian embassy in Rome provoked a post on Facebook in which it published photos of Italian politicians at their meetings with Putin in previous years.

Among them were Berlusconi and Salvini, but also other campaigners like Letta, Giuseppe Conte, Matteo Renzi or Luigi Di Maio and even President Sergio Mattarella and predecessor Giorgio Napolitano.

"From the recent history of Russian-Italian relations," it said.

"We have to remember some of them." dpa