Italian Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini visited Moscow Wednesday to drive home one of his favorite points: that European Union sanctions on Russia hurt Italy and should be repealed.
“The Russian sanctions are a social, cultural and economic absurdity,” Salvini told the annual meeting of the Russian branch of Italy’s main business lobby Confindustria, repeating the same lines he’s used in at least two occasions the past few days. “We hear that Europe wants to accelerate things with an automatic renewal, without asking the opinions of members states. If they ask us to swallow such a thing, we will simply say no.”
