Foreign ministry spokeswoman for Russia, Maria Zakharova, claimed on Friday that Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani only “attracted more attention” to Italy’s “problems” by summoning the ambassador to Rome.
“Why such a reaction?” Zakharova asked in an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia, published a day after Tajani summoned the ambassador following new accusations from Moscow against Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
“Apparently, we have once again struck at the heart of the problem: we caught the same person lying,” she said. “They have nothing to defend themselves with, so they decided to attack. But they did it in vain. First of all, they only drew attention to their problems. And secondly, you’ll discover more later.”
Tajani, who is also deputy premier, condemned the latest Russian attack on Mattarella, calling the remarks unacceptable. “The President of the Republic is a man of peace and a symbol of national and European unity,” he said. He then instructed Foreign Ministry Secretary General Riccardo Guariglia to summon the Russian ambassador to Rome.
Zakharova’s accusations came after Mattarella criticised Moscow’s “nuclear narrative” during a visit to Hiroshima last weekend. Speaking with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Mattarella accused Russia of promoting a “renewed and dangerous nuclear narrative,” blocking the Non-Proliferation Treaty, withdrawing from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and threatening Ukraine. He warned that Russia was instilling “the unacceptable idea that nuclear weapons can become an ordinary tool in conflict management, as if they would not inevitably lead to total destruction.”
Zakharova rejected Mattarella’s comments as “lies and falsehoods.”
Tensions between Rome and Moscow have escalated in recent months. Italian institutions and companies have suffered cyberattacks from pro-Russian hackers, particularly after Mattarella compared Russia to the Third Reich over its invasion of Ukraine. Zakharova previously warned that such comments would not go “without consequences.”
