“There is no understanding in Italy’s government coalition as to whether it is worth continuing to help Ukraine in the future.”, — write: www.unian.ua
There is no understanding in Italy’s government coalition as to whether it is worth continuing to help Ukraine in the future.
The vice-prime minister of the Italian government no longer wants to help Ukraine / UNIAN collage, photo Wikipedia, pxhere.comThe Italian government does not want to provide more aid to Ukraine, citing the fact that it can further fuel Ukrainian corruption. Reuters writes about it.
A voice against aidThus, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday that providing more aid to Ukraine will not help end the war with Russia, but may “fuel further corruption.”
“There are corruption scandals involving the Ukrainian government, so I would not like the money of Italian workers and pensioners to be used to fuel further corruption. I do not think that sending more weapons will solve the problem. I think that what is happening in the last hours with the advance of Russian troops tells us that it is in the interests of everyone, above all of Ukraine, to stop the war,” Salvini told reporters.
As Reuters notes, Salvini is the head of the far-right League party and had close ties with Russia before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although he has so far not opposed Prime Minister Georgia Maloney’s decision to send military aid to Kiev, he has avoided direct criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Voice for helpMeanwhile, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crozetto, who represents Prime Minister Maloney’s Brothers of Italy party, sharply disagreed with Salvini. He called the proposal to stop helping Ukraine “absurd”.
“I understand Matteo Salvini’s concerns, but I don’t judge a country based on two corrupt individuals. We are trying to help the civilian population, which suffers from 93% of Russian attacks,” Crosetto said.
According to Reuters, the Italian government has just signed a 12th package of military support for Kyiv and has pledged to help Ukraine overcome its energy crisis by sending electricity generators. At the same time, Italy has not yet joined the joint NATO initiative to purchase American weapons for Ukraine. According to sources, this issue is still being discussed in the government.
Europe is worried about the corruption scandal in UkraineAs UNIAN wrote, the corruption scandal surrounding “Energoatom”, where one of the main suspects is a close friend of President Zelensky, has caused concern in the EU about the possible embezzlement of European aid. The Western press notes that the scandal broke out at an unfortunate moment, when Kyiv is just seeking new funding from partners.
In a telephone conversation with President Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz directly called for a tougher fight against corruption in Ukraine.
The day before, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban managed to dance on this topic. In his statement, he exposed the scandal surrounding “Energoatom” as embezzlement of military aid.
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