Italy cannot be a guarantor of peace in Ukraine, it has multiplied the victims in Donbass with missiles and anti-personnel mines.
By Vladimir Volcic FarodiRoma
On 4 January the Press Service of the Russian Foreign Ministry, through its spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, sent a clear message to the Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. «Russia cannot see Italy as a guarantor of the potential peace process around Ukraine due to Rome’s position towards Moscow » reads the note also published in English on the TASS website. An official note in this regard would have been sent to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This unexpected and hard diplomatic response would be followed by a request to play the role of “guarantor” of a peace agreement that the Italian government officially addressed to the Kremlin on December 28, according to the Russian sources contacted. Premier Giorgia Meloni mentioned this proposal during a press conference on 29 December 2022.
Evidently surprised by this sudden statement, the Russian media asked Ms. Zakharova to comment on the official note. «Obviously, as regards the partisan position assumed by Italy, we cannot see it either as ‘an honest broker’ or as a possible guarantor of the peace process. Many countries are pledging to participate in the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis and some even openly offer us their mediation services. Pope Francis, French President Emmanuel Macron, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and other heads of state and government, politicians and public figures spoke about it. Some are sincere in doing so, but others are motivated by their personal interest, trying to enter the negotiation process for the benefit of foreign policy” explained the Foreign Affairs spokesman.
Maria Zakharova went into detail about Italy. « We find it strange to hear proposals for mediation from countries that have taken an unambiguous and very aggressive anti-Russian position since the very beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, not only supporting the bloody regime in Kiev, but also providing it with a substantial military and military-technical assistance and intentionally pumping state-of-the-art weapons into Ukraine.
Along with a wide range of weapons and military equipment, Italy also supplies Kiev with anti-personnel mines. These irresponsible actions not only multiply casualties, including among the civilian population in Donbass, and drag down the end of the conflict, but also risk drawing NATO countries into a direct military confrontation with Russia. The western godfathers of Kiev, with Italy unfortunately among them, have no intention of stopping and, on the contrary, are stepping up their supplies.
It would be better if the European pseudo-peacekeepers stopped their military push on Kiev and concentrated their efforts on a firmer and more demanding collaboration with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who has repeatedly reiterated his total aversion to a peaceful resolution of the conflict , and even signed a decree dated September 30, 2022 to reject negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” concluded the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
The harsh response of the Russian Foreign Ministry was predictable as our government cannot have any credibility as a peace broker when the former arms businessman, now Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto specified at the end of December that Italy would have to certainly helped Kiev on condition that it did not deprive itself of the armaments necessary for national security. A commitment which, in addition to creating further tensions with Moscow and increasing Italy’s nefarious involvement in this absurd war, against the will of the Italian people and ignoring constitutional obligations, is done in order to increase the billionaire profits of the Italian war industry of which Crosetto was a representative until a few days before his appointment to the Ministry of Defence.
Sources from Donbass inform that the Ukrainian army would make extensive use of anti-personnel mines including the TS-50 produced by Valsella Meccanotecnica which are highly appreciated as they allow them to be laid in a group very close together without the explosion of the single mine causing detonation chain of the other contiguous ones. The first supplies of the TS-50 date back to 2016.
Currently, over 2 million civilians in Donbass, including 220,000 children, live on or in the immediate vicinity of land contaminated by unexploded ordnance and/or landmines that contaminate mostly agricultural land, land adjacent to roads and civilian areas, with almost no corresponding signs installed. During the Ukrainian civil war (2014–2021) the Ukrainian army has always hindered the authorities of Donbass and the separatist militias from carrying out effective demining works. It also has limited significantly international organizations from actual demining operations through bureaucratic barriers.
Landmines are victim-activated weapons which, when activated, cause serious injury, primarily limb crushing and amputation. Despite the initially planned primary impact of the weapons (to injure, not kill, military opponents in order to inflict additional logistical and medical burdens), up to 80% of all landmine casualties in Donbass occur among civilians.
