Russian ambassador in Rome suggests Europe think about how to co-exist with Russia
The diplomat emphasized that geopolitical confrontation has never been an end in itself for Moscow, and the special military operation was a forced step to which there were no alternatives
ROME, July 21. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Italy Alexey Paramonov reminded Europe of its interests and suggested it think about a new model of coexistence with Russia in an article that was published by La Repubblica on Friday.
"Today, more than ever before, the countries of continental Europe may completely lose Russia if they do not regain awareness of their own interests and do not acquire a more independent and balanced vision of geopolitical processes," the diplomat wrote.
He said Italy's current policy toward Russia is "practically no different from the confrontational approach of the US and other NATO, G7 and EU partners, which is due to a radical divergence in the assessment of the causes underlying the current crisis of the European security system and the conflict in Ukraine." The diplomat said it’s unlikely that Rome will change its foreign policy course.
"Intransigence and rigidity of geopolitical and geo-economic positioning are dictating the agenda at all levels of decision-making in both Russia and Italy," he continued. "At the same time, diplomatic circles still remember that in the past Rome showed flexibility and creativity of its diplomacy when working out formats of interaction to solve the most complex problems. And in the current circumstances, it seems that there may be room for an exchange of views on the issue of forming a new model of coexistence with European countries that takes into account the principle of indivisibility of security, geographical proximity, shared economic interests. This could also be facilitated by the remaining mutual interests in the field of climate, space, health care, new challenges, culture".
The diplomat also emphasized that geopolitical confrontation has never been an end in itself for Moscow, and the special military operation was a forced step to which there were no alternatives.
"This is a decisive, calibrated and justified military-technical response to the persistent challenges to Russia's sovereign development, national interests and security," the ambassador said.