Rome.- The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, altoday reported the presence in Africa of mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Group toHe pointed out that this organization is “taking hold” on the continent, during the presentation of a book on the Vatican’s foreign policy.
“The more people leave and put themselves in the hands of cynical traffickers, the more risk of something going wrong: I don’t think this could be the right, humane, and responsible way to deal with this issue,” Meloni said when speaking about immigration during a literary colloquium organized on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the papacy of Francis.
“It would be easier to hide your head, for the gangsters to decide who can come and for Wagner’s mercenaries and fundamentalists to continue to establish themselves in Africa,” he added after assuring that he has a “clear” conscience due to the actions of the authorities before the Calabria shipwreck last February, where at least 79 people died.
Meloni made these statements during the presentation of «L’Atlante di Francesco. Vaticano e politica internazionale» («The Atlas of Francis. The Vatican and international politics»), an essay written by the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro that reviews the foreign action of the Holy See in the last decade.
His complaint about Wagner came hours after the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, stated in a statement that the increase in migration “on the southern front” of Europe from the African continent is part of “a clear war strategy hybrid of the Wagner division.
«It seems to me that at this point it can already be affirmed that the exponential increase in the migratory phenomenon from the African coasts is also part, to a not inconsiderable extent, of a clear strategy of hybrid warfare that the Wagner division, mercenaries in the pay of Russia, is putting into practice, using its considerable weight in some African countries,” he said in a statement.
Thus, Crosetto, Meloni’s most trusted man, warned “the European Union (EU), the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) and the West” of the dangers lurking on the southern flank of Europe.
“Just as they realized that cyber attacks were part of the global confrontation that the Ukrainian conflict has opened, they should now realize that the southern European front is also becoming more dangerous every day,” the minister said.
However, Crosetto made this accusation when the Italian government faces serious criticism for its management of migration, after the Cruto shipwreck, with 79 deaths. and another tragedy that occurred this weekend in the Mediterranean and for which there are still 30 missing people.
For his part, Italy’s accusations were answered by the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who stated that the migration crisis “does not worry him” and had “no idea” about the matter, according to Italian media reports. EFE
romu/fpa