Moscow's war mustn't sever cultural ties - Mattarella

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 2 - President Sergio Mattarella said Monday that the war Russia started with its invasion of Ukraine should not lead to the severing of cultural ties between European peoples.
    "A senseless war cannot throw into doubt the spiritual and cultural bonds that have been strongly woven in the world of Europe's culture over the centuries," Mattarella said during a meeting with the candidates for this year's David di Donatello Italian cinema awards.
    "The Russian Federation's deplorable decision to use the brutality of violence and war cannot, and must not, sever those precious ties between European peoples that culture contributed to building and consolidating.
    "Duty-bound indignation and condemnation certainly cannot regard culture, great spirits of the past and their works, which have given a great deal to the civilization of the whole world.
    "It would be counterproductive for our Italy and our Europe.
    Lacerating European culture would amount to supporting the logic of aggression." (ANSA).