Alexei Paramonov new Russian ambassador in Italy: Putin signs the decree. He threatened our country after the invasion of Ukraine

Confirming the background spread in recent days, the Russian president Vladimir Putin signed the decree by which he appointed Alexei Vladimirovich Paramonov new ambassador to Italy and in San Marino. Paramonov, born in 1962, former Russian consul in Milan and director of the Europe department of the Moscow Foreign Ministry, takes the place of Sergei Razov, who took office on May 6, 2013, and was ousted by Putin with another decree. The rotation a Villa Abamelek (headquarters of the embassy in Rome) will take place in a month. The Farnesina has informed that the appointment has been granted liking of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.

Unlike Razov, Paramonov has fame of moderate: despite this, last year he had risen to the headlines for having released to the news agency Ria Novosti – less than a month after the start of the war – an interview in which he had threatened “irreversible consequences” in relations between Rome and Moscow if Italy had adopted other sanctions against Russia. Defining, among other things, the then Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini a “hawk” and the “inspirer” of the anti-Russian campaign in Italy, despite having asked Moscow for help during the Covid pandemic.

Awarded by our country with the honor of commendatore dell’Order of the Star of Italy (later revoked), Paramonov had been indicated as the next Russian ambassador to the Holy See in place of Alexander Avdeev, which however “resisted” the changeover. The rumor was also circulated by virtue of the very intense relations that the diplomat continues to maintain Vatican: it was to him, a former minister of culture, that the Pope went on 25 February a year ago, just after the invasion of Ukraine, to express his “concern”. In June 2022, interviewed again by Ria Novostihe had praised “the mediation efforts of the Holy See in the conflict in Ukraine” and let it be known that he “maintained an open and confidential dialogue on a series of issues” with the Vatican.