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Russian diplomats to visit Italian national arrested for fighting for Donbass

The young man had voluntarily been in Donbass since 2014 and became a Russian citizen with the help of Donbass authorities in 2021.

ROME, July 7. /TASS/. Russia’s Consulate General in Milan has requested a visit with Alessandro Bertolini, who was arrested for participating in combat in Donbass.

The diplomatic mission told TASS on Friday that he is being kept in a jail outside of Milan and the visit may take place next week.

According to Italian news outlets, Bertolini, 29, was arrested on June 30 in Milan’s Malpensa International Airport within the framework of a probe launched against him by the Genoa prosecutor general’s office. Bertolini is a native of Rovereto in northern Italy. He is accused of fighting on the side of the people's militia in Donbass. The young man had voluntarily been in Donbass since 2014 and became a Russian citizen with the help of Donbass authorities in 2021.

Ennio Bordato, an Italian charity activist and the founder of the "Help Us Save the Children" foundation which has been providing humanitarian aid to Donbass residents since 2014, told a TASS correspondent that "double standards are obvious" in Italy. "Naturally, this is the case for justice and investigative authorities, but if Italians are paid to fight on the side of the Ukrainian army, nobody comes after them; they are almost heroes, while those fighting on the side of Donbass are being arrested and charged," he noted.

In Italy, participating in combat as a mercenary constitutes a crime.

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