ROME, February 7. /TASS/. Italian citizens continue to be interested in Russia despite attempts to discredit the country, Russian Ambassador to Italy Alexey Paramonov told TASS in an interview.

According to him, the number of political movements and public organizations which advocate for normalizing relations with Moscow is constantly growing.

The diplomat also stated that there was a kind of taboo around Russia at almost all levels of society in Italy. "They can either talk bad about our country or not talk about it at all. So, it is difficult to find unbiased information on what is actually happening in Russia, on our foreign policy, on economic, public, and cultural life," the ambassador said. "Meanwhile, interest in Russia just keeps growing among the Italian people. Public trust in these ideas, those that paint the West in a good light and discredit Moscow, is decreasing. For example, the Russian language is still popular despite the drastically narrowed scope of its application. Pupils still learn it in Italian schools, universities and special courses," Paramonov added.

In his opinion, another sign of the popularity of Russia among "thinking" Italians is the growing number of political movements and public associations, which "put the need to normalize relations with Moscow and to stop the ongoing escalation along the West-Russia line at the top of their programs."

"They voice calls for the authorities to think about a return to peaceful coexistence and the development of a new model of security on the European continent," Paramonov said.

February marks 100 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Italy and the USSR, which helped Rome overcome the severe economic consequences of World War I. They were interrupted between 1941 and 1943 and were restored in 1944, before the end of World War II, when the Resistance movement rose in Italy and Benito Mussolini was ousted as prime minister.