RE: Lets talk Polymetal12 May 2022 08:54
Mario Draghi - hopefully more leaders will start to take this view
Draghi is pushing for even a limited truce to allow talks to resume, mindful also of the impact on Italy should the war spill over Ukraine’s borders. Statements by Biden and his emissaries have been more aggressive, suggesting both regime change and the goal of weakening Russia.
These differences reflect not only Italy's geographic closeness to the fighting, but also its historic political and economic ties with Russia. Italy gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and economic trade last year amounted to 20 billion euros ($21 billion) — much of that for energy purchases that Italy is trying to divert elsewhere.
“There are two currents regarding Russia," Sergio Romano, a Cold War-era Italian ambassador to Moscow, told The Associated Press. “There is the position of the countries that see in the war in Ukraine the possibility, or the hope, of the diminishment of Russian power. I think this current is strong in the U.S.
“I don’t think this is the position of the Italian government, which in the past has had cordial and positive relations with Russia,'' he said.
Draghi, a former central banker skilled at measuring his words, is one of the only European Union leaders to visit Washington since the war broke out, and can be expected to represent not only Italy’s perspective, but also that of Europe. His “whatever it takes" posture as the European Central Bank chief famously saved the euro during the currency bloc’s crisis a decade ago.
Arming Ukraine has become a political issue in Italy, with growing public opposition to sending Italian weaponry out of fear of provoking a wider conflict spilling over into neighboring EU and NATO member states.
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