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Italian prime minister, Putin discuss migration crisis, energy prices, Italy says

The discussion was held in the format of the telephone talks

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

ROME, November 22. /TASS/. Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks to discuss the migration crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, prices for energy resources and the situation in Ukraine, the Italian government’s Chigi Palace said on Monday.

"Telephone talks between Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place,’’ the Italian prime minister’s office said. ‘’The talks were focused on the migration crisis at the border of Poland and Belarus, energy prices and the situation in Ukraine.’’

Draghi earlier said that migrants were used as a foreign policy tool. Refugees have been flocking to Belarus’ border with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania since the start of this year, and the migration crisis took an abrupt turn for the worse on November 8 as a few thousand migrants approached the border and now refuse to leave. Some of them attempted to cross into Poland by tearing down a barbed-wire fence. Some EU countries are blaming Minsk for the intentional escalation of the crisis and are calling for sanctions. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said the West was to blame because of its actions that made people flee the war in their homeland.

Some US and European news media, including the Repubblica newspaper are spreading information from the US State Department on the alleged buildup of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said the information was fake. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied any purported plans for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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