Russia asks Italy for a favor in return for coronavirus aid
The representative of the Italian Five Star Movement and the president of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Vito Petrocelli received a letter from his colleague in the Russian State Duma Leonid Slutsky, in which Slutsky asks that Italy help lift the sanctions, writes the Italian newspaper Linkiesta.
"Finally, Moscow sent a bill for the aid (including military) which was sent to Italy to fight the coronavirus," the newspaper writes.
In the letter, Slutsky point out to Russia’s assistance for Italy in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. He also asks the Italian government to put pressure on the European leadership in Brussels to lift the sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"Western countries that call themselves democratic have imposed various types of sanctions on almost a third of the world's population and do not plan to weaken them even during the fight against coronavirus... I appeal to all politicians to abandon the destructive policy of sanctions," Slutsky writes.
As the newspaper notes, this letter is a kind of protest against the decision of the UN General Assembly, which refused to lift sanctions against Russia because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, la Stampa reported that most of the Russian assistance provided to Italy to fight the coronavirus was useless