Russia on the attack again by Guido Crosetto. The Russian ambassador in Rome, Sergei Razov, published on Facebook a long open letter sent to the defense minister, in which he questions “the sincerity of the words” of Crosetto, contained in yesterday’s interview with Corriere della Sera, accusing once again Italy to “reduce the opportunities for contact and dialogue between the peoples of our two countries”.
“On January 30 of this year you gave an interview to Corriere della Sera in which, among other things, you stated that Europe must not close its doors to the Russians and perceive the Russian people as an enemy – begins the ‘Ambassador in your open letter – We rarely agree with your statements and actions especially regarding the supply of Italian arms to Ukraine, but I believe that almost all Russian citizens would without hesitation subscribe to these words. And the same would, I suppose, also in Italy. But to what extent do these words correspond to reality? Let’s examine the concrete facts. Who is it that is reducing the opportunities for contact and dialogue between the peoples of our countries?”
“Russia, basically on the initiative of the previous Italian government, was deprived of access to 300 billion dollars of its foreign exchange reserves. Now the possibility of a definitive theft is being discussed. And we are talking about Russian taxpayers’ money,” says Razov , which makes a long list of all the steps taken by Italy in the last year to “prevent and destroy dialogue”.
“Italy continues to seize real estate, properties and other assets of Russian businessmen declared “oligarchs”. On this legally shaky basis, an entire category of citizens of our country who have invested their capital in development is discriminated against of Italy – writes the ambassador – With improbable pretexts and with the excuse of “solidarity”, 30 employees of the Russian embassy in Rome were unjustifiably expelled from Italy (with family members: 72 in total), people who were used to develop and strengthen bilateral relations, including those who, in the most difficult period of the coronavirus pandemic, helped organize the Russian military-humanitarian operation that took place in Italy in March-May 2020 to help the affected populations of the friendly country. As a sign of ‘gratitude’, Italy has granted our diplomats the status of “persona non grata”‘”.
And again, according to Razov, “at the instigation of the then top management of the Italian Foreign Ministry, prominent members of Russian civil society were deprived of Italian state recognition: many of them had been rewarded, among other things, for their disinterested assistance in the reconstruction of the city of L’Aquila, hit by a devastating earthquake in 2009”. “On the initiative of the Italian side, direct air connections between our countries have been interrupted, thus reducing Russian tourism to Italy to a minimum. Our compatriots who manage to reach Italy have to face complicated procedures for issuing visas, the cost of which more than doubled, and once in Italy they collide with the refusal, by some companies, to sell them goods worth more than 300 euros”, the list continues.
“The real attitude towards exponents of the Russian cultural world is evident from the cases of cancellation of performances in Italy of the world-famous conductor V.Gergiev, of the pianist V.Lisitza or of the dancer S.Polunin, cancellation determined solely by the their political position.The attitude towards contacts in the field of sport is eloquently illustrated by the refusal of the Italian authorities, in March 2022, to allow the organization of a humanitarian flight to transport a team of Russian Paralympic athletes with disabilities, blocked by the closure of the airspace – continues the ambassador – Banking services refused without reason, forced closures of current accounts and other discriminatory restrictions related to the possession of a Russian passport or simply to the indication on documents of Russia as the place of birth, have become a common phenomenon in the life of our compatriots present in Italy”.
According to Razov, “this is by no means an exhaustive list of the steps taken by Italy since last year to unilaterally prevent contacts, destroy previously active channels of bilateral dialogue. And here, Mr. Minister, I am sure you would find it very difficult to mention any initiative taken in the same direction by the Russian side”. “In Russia we are used to judging on the basis of deeds rather than words. And deeds are very far from your words, whose sincerity, even if you want to, is hard to believe”, concludes the ambassador.
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