Berlusconi: «As prime minister I would never have spoken to Zelensky. He shouldn’t have attacked Donbass.’ Palazzo Chigi: «Convinced support for Ukraine»- Corriere.it

To end the war between Russia and Ukraine «I would think that Mr. American President, Joe Biden, should take Zelensky and say to him: “After the war is over, a Marshall Plan is at your disposal to rebuild Ukraine from 9 trillion dollars, on one condition, that you order a ceasefire tomorrow, also because starting tomorrow we will no longer give you dollars and we will no longer give you weapons”». Because “only something like this could convince this gentleman to reach a ceasefire”. This was stated today by the leader of Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi, after having voted for the regional elections in via Ruffini, in Milan, answering questions from journalists regarding the Ukrainian situation.

AND after the meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Zelensky himself at the extraordinary European Council,
the leader of Forza Italia goes in the opposite political direction: «Me to talk to Zelensky? If I had been the Prime Minister, I would never have gone there, because we are witnessing the devastation of your country and the massacre of its soldiers and civilians”. The reason? Berlusconi is categorical: “It was enough for him to stop attacking the two autonomous republics of Donbass and this would not have happened, so I judge this gentleman’s behavior very, very negatively.”

Words that force Palazzo Chigi to make an immediate clarification: “The Italian government’s support for Ukraine is firm and convinced, as clearly foreseen in the program and as confirmed in all the parliamentary votes of the majority that supports the executive”.

Moscow also intervenes: «It’s not up to me to judge and vote for Berlusconi, these are things that concern Italians. I limit myself to the facts, and the facts say that for eight years, since 2014, Russia has insisted that the Minsk accords be implemented for peace in Ukraine. But this was not what the West had in mind,” he tells theHandle the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commenting on Berlusconi’s statements. And then: Zelensky “is now an image used for an advertising campaign” with the aim of “showing that Russia is bad and the West is good”. Zakharova’s spokesperson also concluded: «By now it is an image that appears everywhere, from football matches to your Sanremo Festival. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

The reactions of the opposition were harsh: «Does Prime Minister Meloni agree with the disturbing words pronounced by Berlusconi on the war in Ukraine? — polemically asks Simona Malpezzi, leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate —. Today he has in fact officially sided with Putin’s Russia. With these government allies, the prime minister should not complain about how she is treated in the EU”. While Action leader Carlo Calenda goes down hard: «Berlusconi starts again with his Putinian ravings, in total contrast with the EU, the government to which he belongs and the foreign minister who is also an expression of his party. Bad.”

Berlusconi also finds time to joke: “I voted for Inter,” he said later as he mailed the ballot paper at the polling station of the Giovanni Pascoli school in Milan.

But late in the evening, an official note from Forza Italia is needed to try to plug the leak, before it risks becoming a political abyss: «President Berlusconi’s support for Ukraine has never been in doubt. He only expressed his concern to avoid the continuation of a massacre and a consequent serious escalation of the war, without ever failing Forza Italia’s adhesion to the government majority, to the position of NATO, to that of Europe and the States United ».