Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 14, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
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Italy's president compared Russia to Nazi Germany, causing a diplomatic row. Prime Minister Meloni defended the remarks, emphasizing Italy's support for Ukraine.
ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused Russia of "offending the entire Italian nation" on Friday as she stood by comments by the Italian president that compared modern-day Russia to Nazi Germany.
In a speech last week, President Sergio Mattarella criticised the "wars of aggression" that led to World War Two. "This was the project of the Third Reich in Europe. The current Russian aggression against Ukraine is of this nature," he said.
Reacting to those statements with some delay, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday lambasted Mattarella's remarks as "blasphemous inventions".
Meloni said in a strongly-worded statement: "The insults of the spokeswoman (...) offend the entire Italian nation, which the head of state represents."
"I express my full solidarity, as well as that of the entire government, to President Mattarella, who has always firmly condemned the aggression perpetrated against Ukraine," she added.
Italy has traditionally been one of the countries in Europe with the closest political and economic ties to Russia, but under Meloni it has firmly stood by Ukraine, including with military aid.
(This story has been refiled to remove a repeated word from the headline)
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Claudia Cristoferi, William Maclean)
The article discusses the diplomatic dispute between Italy and Russia following comments by Italy's president comparing Russia to Nazi Germany.
Russia condemned the comments as blasphemous inventions, sparking a diplomatic dispute with Italy.
Under Prime Minister Meloni, Italy has firmly supported Ukraine, including providing military aid.
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