ROME – Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni yesterday underlined her government’s “firm support” for Kyiv after former premier and coalition partner Silvio Berlusconi blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Asked about the meeting Thursday in Brussels between Meloni and Zelenskyy, Berlusconi replied: “Me talk to Zelenskyy? If I had been president of the council, I would never have gone there.
“It was enough for him (Zelenskyy) to stop attacking the two autonomous republics of Donbas and all this would not have happened, therefore I judge this gentleman’s behaviour very, very negatively,” Berlusconi told journalists after voting in regional elections in Lombardy.
The 86-year-old tycoon, who boasted of being a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was in power, leads the Forza Italia party, a partner in the coalition government led by far-right Meloni.
Berlusconi last September caused an uproar by suggesting that Putin had been “pushed” by his population and the pro-Russian forces of Donbas to invade Ukraine.
Yesterday, his latest pro-Russian statements swiftly drew a response from Meloni’s government, which issued a statement stressing its “support for Ukraine is firm and convinced”.
Meloni met Zelenskyy for talks in Brussels on Thursday, discussing the possibility of a visit to Kyiv “being organised”. – AFP, February 13, 2023
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