ROME: New Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said she was ready to closely work with NATO. “Ready to work with NATO, that is more than a military alliance: a bulwark of common values we’ll never stop standing for,” she said on Twitter in a reply to NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.
Meloni was replying to multiple congratulations as she assumed office as prime minister. Along the lines of cooperation with NATO, she also replied to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “USA and all our NATO partners can count on us to support at our best the brave people of Ukraine and to enforce our strategic partnership.”
Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov earlier told media that he didn’t expect Rome to change its course considerably with a new government in place. He said so far there were indications that the policy of supporting Kiev and compliance with the sanctions on Russia would continue.
While on the other hand, Guido Crosetto, the Country’s new Defense Minister said the new Italian government will continue to honor its commitments as part of international alliances, including on Ukraine.
“The government’s position [on sending weapons to Ukraine] has already been repeatedly expressed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: When you are part of a common family and signed an agreement, you accept the decision of this group. Italy will respect the decisions taken by our historic international alliances. And there is no disagreement on this issue,” the minister said.
Crosetto believes that “Russia seeks to weaken all countries that support Ukraine, starting with Italy.” He also expects “hard weeks” ahead in terms of maintaining social order.
“There is a great risk of poverty and unemployment, and that causes outrage among the people. And we must take this aspect into account, because it can prompt domestic instability, which compounds the international problems,” Crosetto said. – Agencies
