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Italy defends media ‘independence’ after Moscow envoy summoned

Italy's ambassador to Moscow defended media "independence" on Friday after Russian authorities summoned her over an Italian television report in the embattled Kursk region, the foreign ministry said.

Published: 17 August 2024 09:32 CEST

Italy defends media 'independence' after Moscow envoy summoned

Women walk past the Italian embassy in Moscow on May 18, 2022. Photo: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP.

Cecilia Piccioni faced a “strong protest” over Italian broadcaster RAI’s reporting team which “illegally entered Russia to cover the criminal terrorist attack by Ukrainian soldiers against the Kursk region”, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Piccioni explained during the meeting that RAI, “and in particular the editorial teams, plan their activities in a totally free and independent way”, an Italian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

The Italian broadcaster’s main news programme aired a report on Wednesday, showing journalists driving across the border into Russia accompanied by Ukrainian military.

They were shown driving in an armoured vehicle past Russian road signs before arriving in the town of Sudzha, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, where a journalist talked to local people.

Russia’s foreign ministry warned that the “actions by the Italian citizens fall under Russia’s criminal code”.

The ministry said that “the competent authorities are taking the necessary steps to establish all the circumstances of the crimes committed by the RAI staff to assess the legal position and take corresponding measures”.

Ukraine has claimed control of Sudzha after launching its surprise offensive into Russia last week.

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Italy PM states 'determined' support as Zelensky presses allies

“We must not give up on Ukraine,” Meloni said after the meeting on the sidelines of an economic forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy, which focused on reconstruction and efforts to end the war with Russia.

Zelensky had on Friday addressed the European House-Ambrosetti forum, hours after pressing for more weapons at a meeting of allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Washington unveiled $250 million in new military aid.

Meloni’s government — which this year holds the rotating G7 presidency — has been among the strongest supporters of Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

READ ALSO: Zelensky meets Meloni in Italy, presses for more arms

But some members of her coalition government — notably League leader Matteo Salvini, who has a history of warm ties with Moscow — are less enthusiastic.

Rome has sent weapons to Kyiv, but has said these should be used only on Ukrainian territory, not to attack Russia itself.

In her address to the forum on Saturday, Meloni said the position of EU and NATO member Italy on Ukraine was “extremely serious, determined and clear”.

She addressed members of the Italian public who are “scared, legitimately worried about the war”, but urged them not to “fall into the trap of Russian propaganda” in believing Ukraine’s fate was sealed.

Helping Ukraine fight back against its vastly more powerful neighbour had created the “stalemate” conditions in which peace could be discussed, she said.

And she warned that allowing Ukraine to fall to Russian aggression “will not bring peace, it will bring chaos” and economic consequences “more serious that what it costs today to support Ukraine”.

More weapons

In Germany on Friday, where he also met Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Zelensky urged Kyiv’s supporters to provide more weapons and follow through on previous commitments, saying: “The number of air-defence systems that have not been delivered is significant.”

And after Ukraine’s surprise push into Russia’s Kursk region last month, he again called for restrictions to be lifted on the use of long-range Western weapons.

At Cernobbio, he assured Italy that the weapons would only be used to hit military targets.

In their talks Saturday, Meloni said she had also discussed with Zelensky a planned meeting in Italy next year on reconstructing Ukraine.

And she “reiterated the centrality of support for Ukraine in the agenda of the Italian G7 presidency”, according to her office.

“I thank Giorgia and the Italian people for their support and joint efforts in restoring a just peace,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on X after the talks, posting a video of the pair hugging.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — who upset his EU counterparts and Zelensky by meeting Putin in Moscow in July — also addressed the Cernobbio forum on Friday.

The Ukrainian president rejected Orban’s calls for a ceasefire, saying that Putin had never respected earlier accords.

Zelensky’s visits to Italy and Germany came just days after one of the deadliest strikes of the war and as Russian forces make battlefield gains.

Some 55 people were killed and 300 wounded in a Russian missile strike on Tuesday on the city of Poltava.

Meanwhile Moscow’s forces advance in the Donbas, with Putin on Thursday declaring that capturing the eastern area was his “primary objective” in the conflict.

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