ROME, October 19. /TASS/. Italians are far from convinced about the feasibility of arming Ukraine, and pacifist sentiments in Italian society are on the rise, Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov said in an interview for TASS.
"Judging by the polls and media publications, there are serious doubts about the feasibility of flooding the Kiev regime with weapons, especially given the mounting complications of incomparably more important social and economic problems in Italy itself. It should be clear that arms shipments will not change the goals of the special military operation, but will make the conflict longer and more painful," the diplomat explained.
He noted that Italy has already approved five so-called military aid packages for the Kiev regime.
"The allotment of military-technical property handed over has not been disclosed, it’s classified. Local media say that [Italy] ships artillery systems, man-portable anti-tank and missile defense systems, armored vehicles, small arms and various ammunition, personal protection and equipment elements," the envoy detailed.
"There are definitely pacifist sentiments in Italian society and, as far as I can tell, they are growing. People are clearly tired of the Ukrainian crisis," he continued. "I must admit that a significant segment of Italian society rejects the mainstream propaganda and successfully uses alternative sources of information, including Russian ones. The embassy also spreads the truth about the genuine motives of our actions in Ukraine and the real situation around Ukrainian communities, as much as it can. However, you know what they say - it’s like screaming into the wind: the audibility depends not so much on the loudness of your scream but on the force and the direction of the wind. So far, the ‘wind’s direction’ is unfavorable; the Italian mainstream is decidedly anti-Russian," Razov noted.
He also mentioned various mass rallies for peace in Ukraine, noting that sometimes they gain a distorted nature.
"Sometimes, such rallies - for example those next to our embassy in Rome - become anti-Russian, when pseudo-pacifist slogans are indistinguishable from militarist ones, talking about peace only on Ukraine’s terms, about Russia’s defeat on the battlefield and so on. The anti-Russian rhetoric of the Italian mainstream media indeed seriously contributes to the formation of a distorted picture of the conflict in Ukraine among the local public," the diplomat said.