Foreign Minister and centrist Civic
Commitment (IC) leader Luigi Di Maio on Thursday decried alleged
interference in Italy's September 25 general election campaign
by former Russian president and current deputy chair of its
national security council Dmitri Medvedev who urged Europeans to
punish their governments for their "stupidity".
Medvedev, right-hand man to Russian President Vladimir Putin,
said on telegram, "we'd like to see European citizens (at the
polls) not only expressing their malcontent for the actions of
their governments...but also punishing them for their evident
stupidity".
He added "the voters' votes are a powerful lever of influence".
The outgoing national unity Italian government led by Premier
Mario Draghi fully backed Western sanctions against Russia for
its invasion of Ukraine as well as sending arms to Kyiv.
Even the only major opposition party, the post-fascist Brothers
of Italy (FdI), took a strongly pro-NATO and pro-EU stance over
the war.
Two parties in the Draghi government who had previously lauded
Putin, Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza
Italia (FI), also unequivocally condemned Russian aggression.
In response to Medvedev, Di Maio said "the Russian government's
interference in the Italian elections is really concerning.
"May the Italian political forces distance themselves in a clear
way, without any timidity, from Russian propaganda".
Di Maio said Medvedev had given a "clear indication on how to
vote," referring to the fact that FdI was not in Draghi's
government.
Di Maio added: "We are working to diversify the sources of our
gas supplies, because you can't depend on those who, with the
money of the Italians, is funding the bloody war in Ukraine."
He repeated a long-standing Italian call, which has so far not
met with success, for the EU to set a price cap on gas.
The Italian government has been working hard to end the nation's
reliance on Russian gas since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on
February 24, reaching and preparing a series of agreements to
boost supplies from elsewhere.
The proportion of Italy's gas supplied by Moscow has already
fallen from 40% at the start of the conflict to around 25% now,
sources said recently.
Algeria's share has risen to over 30%.
The Italian government has "moved rapidly" to diversify
suppliers by scrambling to set up alternatives with countries
like Algeria, Angola, Congo, Libya, Egypt, Israel and
Mozambique, Premier Mario Draghi said recently.
Eni recently joined the world's largest Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG) project in Qatar.
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