The Italian government would “not be afraid” to use its veto powers in the EU as a “last resort” to push the bloc into lifting sanctions against Russia, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Salvini said Rome would work to ensure the sanctions — imposed by the EU after Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014 — are lifted through “good manners, numbers and the art of democracy,” but added that unlike his predecessors, his government was “not scared” of using vetoes to do so.
“Im not ruling anything out,” Salvini said.
The Italian ministers remarks came on the same day as Donald Trumps meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, during which the U.S. president said he hoped the two would end up having an “extraordinary relationship,” and Putin declared the annexation of Crimea was legal.
Salvini said Italys government would work on negotiations with the EU “night and day” until they are satisfied.
“We have already demonstrated on the migration front that we are quite stubborn, and therefore I am convinced that we can bring home some concrete results,” he said, an apparent reference to how Italy held up last months European Council summit over a discussion on migration policy.
“I am counting on convincing them.”
The Italian minister also echoed statements from Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte by expressing his support for allowing Russia to again “have a seat at the table” of what was once the G8 meeting of country leaders. Western powers and Japan ejected Russia from the G8 in 2014, also in response to the annexation of Crimea.
Salvini also lauded the Kremlin for “working for its peoples interests.”
“Surely in Russia there is a government that for years has been working in the interest of the Russian people, something than Italy we havent had [so far], and that we hardly have in Europe,” he said.
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