ROME: Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Rome, Alexey Paramonov, to th...
ROME: Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Rome, Alexey Paramonov, to the Foreign Ministry. According to a statement by the Italian Foreign Ministry, this is due to "the listing of President Sergio Mattarella and other officials of the Italian Republic among Russophobes."
"Minister Tajani views the inclusion of the head of state on this list as a provocation against the country and the Italian people and expresses his institutional and personal solidarity with President Mattarella," the statement reads.
Earlier, a selection of examples of ‘hate speech’ targeting Russia and Russophobic statements by politicians and public figures abroad was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The publication dated July 24, which has only recently garnered attention from the Italian media, features statements by Western politicians and representatives of the Kiev regime in 2024 and 2025. Notably, it references Italian President Sergio Mattarella's speech at the University of Marseille in 2025, during which he made a highly controversial comparison between Russia and the Third Reich. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova swiftly condemned this remark, describing it as offensive, outrageous, and outright false - a " blasphemous fabrication."
Also included in the publication are statements by President Mattarella, alongside remarks from Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, all pertaining to 2024. The document also features Russophobic comments from official representatives of NATO and the European Commission.
On July 27, several Italian cities hosted events devoted to a day against Russophobia. The organizer, Italian journalist Vincenzo Lorusso - who has been working in Donbass and recently published a book titled De Russophobia (On Russophobia) in Italy, with a foreword by Zakharova - led these initiatives.
Earlier, due to provocative actions by certain Italian politicians, including Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Picierno, known for her Russophobic stance, and members of the Ukrainian diaspora, a planned philharmonic concert featuring soloists from the Mariinsky Theater was canceled. The concert, scheduled to be part of the Summer of the King festival at the royal palace in Caserta, was to be conducted by the renowned Valery Gergiev. Vincenzo De Luca, the governor of Campania, who actively opposes the "cancelling of culture," had invited Gergiev to perform in Italy.
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