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Italian newspaper acknowledges misidentification of Russian diplomat

Earlier, Corriere della Sera named an employee of the Russian embassy in Italy Andrei Kharchenko as a person involved in the high-profile case of Russia’s alleged financing of the Lega party

ROME, September 13. /TASS/. Italian daily Corriere della Sera has acknowledged its mistake regarding the misidentification of a Russian embassy worker who was mistakenly stated to be a participant in the case on alleged financing of Italy’s Lega party by Russia. The newspaper explained its mistake by the Russian embassy’s failure to confirm the information in the run-up to the publication.

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Italy published a letter of protest, demanding that the newspaper publish a rebuttal.

Read also

Russia awaits apology from Italy’s Corriere della Sera for lying about Russian diplomat

In the wake of the embassy’s statement, Corriere della Sera published a clarification, in which it informs that the newspaper had sent a request to the embassy "to confirm or deny" the information on the diplomat. Allegedly, the Russian diplomat might have participated in the meeting in Moscow in October 2018 between head of the Lombardy-Russia Association Gianluca Savoini (a senior member of the Lega party) and Russian entrepreneurs, during which they discussed Russia’s financing of the Italian party.

"There was no response. We acknowledge the embassy's statement. We would like to note that the list of diplomats in possession of the Italian Foreign Ministry does not include patronymic names," the newspaper explained. The daily also quotes the Russian embassy’s letter, omitting the part where the embassy demands a personal apology to the diplomat.

The Russian embassy told TASS that such a response is unsatisfactory "due to a number of reasons."

Earlier, Corriere della Sera named an employee of the Russian embassy in Italy Andrei Kharchenko as a person involved in the high-profile case of Russia’s alleged financing of the Lega party. The article published on Friday was met with outrage in the Russian diplomatic mission, which demanded an official retraction. The embassy explained that the embassy employee has a different patronymic name and is younger than the alleged suspect.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted this mistake during a briefing on Thursday, adding that the ministry will keep an eye on this case.

Alleged financing scandal

In July, US portal BuzzFeed published a readout of a conversation between the head of the Lombardy-Russia Association and a senior member of the Lega party, Gianluca Savoini, and purported Russian businessmen about the party’s financing. Later, the portal identified Russian participants in the talks as Andrei Kharchenko and Ilya Yakunin.

Based on the publication and the audio record released by BuzzFeed, Milan’s prosecution launched a case against Savoini on international corruption charges. Other suspects in the case are lawyer Gianluca Meranda and financial consultant Francesco Vannucci. All suspects denied any wrongdoing.

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