Storm, shock, endless controversies. The storm does not subside after the interview with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergej Lavrov, broadcast yesterday in Zona Bianca on Retequattro. After the exchange of views, even harsh and decisive, and the statements of Prime Minister Mario Draghi during yesterday’s press conference during the presentation of the Aid Decree, now comes the reaction from Moscow. Speaking is Lavorv’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova who, on Telegram, with regard to the words of the Italian premier who “criticized – writes Zakharova – the Italian TV program in which the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov spoke for 40 minutes, defining it as not an interview but a meeting “he specified:” The initiative to conduct the interview did not come from the Russian Foreign Ministry, but from Italian journalists “.
Ukraine, Draghi: “Lavrov interview? Freedom of expression in Italy, but his false and aberrant opinions”
And then, again on the platform, he pointed out: “I want Italian citizens to know the truth”, says Zakharova, “because Italian politicians are making fun of their public.” In short, the climate does not calm down around the story. On the contrary.
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Anna Zafesova
Divided Italian politics
And Italian politics, after the Mediaset scoop, is divided on the opportunity to give space to the exponent of the Moscow government who for the first time gave an interview to a European TV after the start of the war. Politics was divided not only on the need to transmit the interview but also on the modalities of its conduct by Giuseppe Brindisi, accused of having left too much freedom of speech to his interlocutor without contradicting his most contested statements. While the EU Commission receives a warning to the Italian media about Moscow’s propaganda, Mediaset defends his choice. «The delusional statements of the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrova” White Zone “are of particular importance because they clearly confirm Putin’s unwillingness to arrive at a diplomatic solution to the Russian war against Ukraine. And whatever you think of it, today something more than Russia and those who govern it », says Mauro Crippa, general director of Mediaset Information, who defines the« absurd parallels on Hitler and the Jews »as” false historians “. «But Lavrov – he continues – is the number two in the Russian Federation. The interview is a document that photographs contemporary history ».
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The criticism of the Democratic Party, the defense of the center-right
Strongly national critic the secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, according to whom Italy “cannot afford to have a large TV that broadcasts an intolerable, unbearable propaganda ad against a country bombed with ignoble phrases about Hitler and the Jews”. The dem accuse the conductor of having granted a soliloquy to Lavrov, while for Iv’s Laura Garavini it was “an offensive spectacle for a democracy like ours”. “On Rete 4 we have crossed all boundaries of decency,” attacks Iolanda Di Stasio, deputy M5S. You criticize the statements of the Russian minister, but defend the choice of Mediaset great of the center-right, starting with the leader of Fdi Giorgia Meloni. “If Italians are better today, the reasons why it is necessary to defend Ukraine – she says – is thanks to the freedom of the press”.
Copasir will intervene
The issue will be addressed by Copasir, which has already been invested by the Supervisory Commission after the controversy following the interviews with Russian journalists on Rai and other TV channels. “We have already foreseen a specific investigation also with the hearings of the Agcom and Rai top management” affirms the president of Copasir, Adolfo Urso. The line is drawn by an EU Commission channel, according to which hosting media journalists blocked by sanctions – such as Sputnik and Russia Today – must not evade EU sanctions against Russian propaganda on Ukraine. “It is not a question – he explains – of censoring opinions but it is important that their background is contextualized”. Furthermore, “broadcasters in the EU and Member States must not allow incitement to violence or hatred in their programs, as required by the directive” on EU media activities.
And now on the question comes another episode. The Russian Foreign Ministry itself is upping the ante through the words of Lavrov’s spokesperson.