ROME, August 27. /TASS/. NATO's strategy for the conflict in Ukraine, based on military supplies and the logic of escalation, has failed, while the crisis itself has exposed the EU's inability to show leadership and underlined its subordination to the US. Giuseppe Conte, former Prime Minister of Italy, now the leader of the Five Star Movement opposition political party, expressed this opinion on Saturday.

"The strategy pursued so far in NATO, based on constant military supplies to Ukraine and the logic of escalation, did not lead to a military defeat for Russia: there was no defeat of the Russian army in Bakhmut (Artemovsk, Ukrainian name - Bakhmut - TASS), there was no collapse its military units, there was no retreat during the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The economic and financial sanctions imposed on Russia did not lead to its bankruptcy and did not bring down its economy," Conte wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta recognized as extremist in Russia).

"The isolation of Russia has by no means become a reality. On the contrary, the 15th summit of the BRICS group has just ended with a concrete prospect of its further expansion in 2024, which will cover 45% of the world's population and 38.2% of world GDP," Conte went on.

According to Conte, "the conflict in the heart of old Europe has revealed the inability of the European Union to develop an effective common strategy and show independent political and economic leadership, highlighting, on the contrary, the subordination of [European] rulers to the United States." As the former Italian prime minister noted, his party has always "been convinced of the fallacy of the desire to inflict a military defeat on the Russian Federation."

Conte has repeatedly called for the start of peace talks on Ukraine. In particular, he said that he was in favor of a "breakthrough in the negotiation process" with the participation of the Vatican and "all other players in the international community." The former prime minister noted that he "would not leave" President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky "the right to decide how, when and under what conditions to sit down at the negotiating table."

The Five Star Movement has long opposed sending weapons to Ukraine. This position indirectly caused it to leave the previous ruling coalition, which led to the fall of the previous government of Mario Draghi in the summer of 2022.