Italy will not send soldiers to
Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron said NATO should
send ground troops if the Russian break through the Ukrainian
lines and Kyiv calls for help, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani
said Friday.
"We have always said that we are not at war with Russia and
therefore we will not send Italian soldiers to fight in
Ukraine", said Tajani, who is also deputy premier as well as
leader of the centre-right post Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI)
party, part of Premier Giorgia Meloni's ruling rightwing
coalition with her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party and Deputy
Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's League party.
Responding in Reggio Calabria to a question from journalists on
Macron's statement that western boots on the ground might be
necessary in Ukraine, Tahani said: "We defend the right of
Ukraine to be an independent state.
"But we are not, I repeat, at war with Russia. Our position is
always this. We have never changed our mind. We defend freedom,
independence, but we are working to build peace", he stressed.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Interfax, said: "The
French president's words on the possible sending of troops to
Ukraine represent a very dangerous trend and Moscow continues to
closely monitor Paris' statements."
Meanwhile Defence Minister Guido Crosetto stressed the need for
the Italian Army to adapt to a changing world as the armed force
celebrated its 163rd anniversary with a ceremony in Rome on
Friday.
"The challenge of change is the most difficult one," said
Crosetto.
"The world has changed, the army must adapt.
"It is difficult to adapt, but this challenge does not only
concern the defence (sector), but also parliament and all of the
institutions, and industry too.
"Before there was no rush, now there is no time to wait.
"The time-frames are not dictated by our habits but by the needs
that arise.
"These are profound changes that affect everyone.
"We thought that war had disappeared, but over the last two
years war has returned to our home".
Premier Giorgia Meloni was among the officials attending the
ceremony for the anniversary at the 'Gen. C.A. Pietro
Giannattasio' military hippodrome in Rome's Tor di Quinto
district.
President Sergio Mattarella, for his part, told Army Chief of
Staff General Carmine Masiello on the occasion of the 163rd
anniversary of the Italian Army that "In the geopolitical
reality that we live in, where conflicts and wars undermine
peace and now directly threaten the freedoms and security of
Europe itself, the Army confirms itself as an essential element
of our military instrument, in defence of the Republic and the
values of its Constitution, and in support of international
stability and coexistence".
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