ROME, April 23. /TASS/. Relations between Moscow and Rome significantly deteriorated amid developments in Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov said in an interview with the Rete 4 TV channel.

"Unfortunately, bilateral relations have significantly declined and it’s not our fault. We regret that 30 of our diplomats have been expelled, a tit-for-tat response will follow soon, as required by diplomatic practice," he pointed out.

Italy’s La Repubblica daily reported last week that Rome was considering the possibility of providing more weapons to Ukraine. In particular, the newspaper claimed that Italy would send armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine.

"I think it is strange logic that establishing peace should require heavy weapons. I can only tell the Italian authorities that these weapons will be used to kill civilians and Russian troops, which won’t benefit our relations. However, not all Italians support such measures," Razov noted.

According to opinion polls, most Italians don’t support the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. In response, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and a number of other countries announced sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.