Premier Matteo Renzi must make clear
to Russian President Vladimir Putin all of the concerns raised
by Group of Seven leaders over the Ukraine crisis, that
country's ambassador to Italy told ANSA on Tuesday.
Ambassador Yevhen Perelygin said he "expects Renzi to bring
the message of the G7 leaders to Putin" when the two national
leaders meet on Wednesday as Putin visits Milan Expo 2015.
Putin is later slated to meet with Pope Francis in Vatican
City.
"Violating world order isn't allowed, neither with
Kalashnikovs nor with nuclear arms," Perelygin said in an
interview with ANSA.
"Russia still isn't aware of the consequences of its
aggressive and foolish actions. Prolonging sanctions would be a
good thing", he said.
When the G7 met on Monday in Germany, United States
President Barack Obama said that expanding existing sanctions on
Russia over Ukraine was a possibility.
Obama said Putin was destroying his country's economy in "a
wrong-headed desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet
empire".
As well, in its official, final statement the G7 leaders
said: "We are concerned about the recent increase in fighting
along the line of contact," in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Perelygin said he hopes that when Pope Francis
meets Putin, he will "repeat the message he pronounced in
Sarajevo recently: he who speaks of peace while conducting war
is a hypocrite".
Pope Francis gave a homily on peacemakers to a crowd of
over 65,000 in Sarajevo's Kosevo stadium last Sunday.
There, Francis said that "all are capable of proclaiming
peace, even in a hypocritical, or indeed duplicitous, manner,"
but added that "peacemaker" means "those who make peace".
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