Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has again caused a stir with comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin that emerged on Tuesday.
The LaPresse news agency published audio of what it said was a secretly taped speech by Berlusconi to Forza Italia members of parliament on Tuesday.
In it, the 86-year-old says that he is back in contact with Putin and says the Kremlin boss counts him as one of “his five real friends.”
“I’ve reconnected with President Putin, quite a lot,” he said, describing how Putin sent him “20 bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter” for his birthday. Berlusconi said he replied with bottles of Italian wine and a “letter as sweet.”
Berlusconi turned 86 on Sept. 29, days after a right-wing coalition including his conservative Forza Italia (Let’s Go/Forwards Italy) party won the general election.
As a spokesperson for the European Commission pointed out when asked on Wednesday, the import of spirits from Russia is actually prohibited.
The fifth EU sanctions package imposed on Russia, which came into force in April, includes an import ban on vodka.
However, the EU states are responsible for implementing the sanctions, and it was initially unclear whether the punitive measure would also apply to gifts.
The comments were initially dismissed as “old stories” by Berlusconi’s confidants, including the potential future foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
However, in the recording, Berlusconi explicitly speaks of Russian ministers saying that the West is already at war with Russia because it is “giving Ukraine weapons and money.”
“I can’t personally express my opinion [on this] because if it is then passed on to the press it would result in a disaster, but I am very, very, very worried,” he added.
On Tuesday evening, Forza Italia just said that Berlusconi’s position on Ukraine was still in line with that of Europe and the United States.
Forza Italia is currently in talks to become a minority partner in a coalition headed by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party and also including the far-right populist League party.
There are concerns that Italy may no longer support Kiev once the new Meloni-led government takes office.
Days before the Italian elections Berlusconi, who long hesitated to condemn the invasion after the war broke out, claimed that Putin was forced to invade Ukraine.
Enrico Letta, the head of Italy’s Social Democrats (PD), in a tweet warned that the comments were not to be taken lightly.
“The new majority is in the process of dangerously shifting Italy’s position on Russia towards ambiguity,” said Letta, a former prime minister.
Fellow ex-premier Giuseppe Conte cited Berlusconi’s “honeymoon with Putin,” and an anti-abortion proposal by Forza Italia Senator Maurizio Gasparri as pushing in a direction that “will lead them to crash against a wall.”
