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Top Italian diplomat rules out any possibility of war with Russia

Antonio Tajani also said that he knew nothing about French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea for potentially sending troops to Ukraine

ROME, March 5. /TASS/. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has ruled out any discussion of a potential war with Russia.

"In any case, a potential war on Russia is not even discussed. We say that we are only defending international law. Nothing has ever been said about a war with Russia," he said in an interview with Radio 1, once again reiterating that he objects to "sending Italian troops to the Ukrainian front."

He also said that he knew nothing about French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea for potentially sending troops to Ukraine. According to Tajani, "no one discussed such an idea" during the February 24 summit of the Group of Seven, of which Italy is the current chair.

After a conference on Ukraine in Paris on February 26, Macron said that the participants had considered sending ground troops to Ukraine. Although no consensus was reached on this topic, he left the door open to such a scenario in the future. After the conference, most of the participating counties stated that they have no plans to send troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia. French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on the following day that the presence of Western troops in Ukraine could be needed to render certain types of assistance, for instance, in mine clearance operations and training Ukrainian soldiers, but such a presence would not extend their direct participation in the conflict.

On March 1, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan released an audio recording and accompanying transcript of a surreptitiously taped conversation among German Bundeswehr officers discussing the possibility of supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine and their potential use in staging an attack on the Crimean Bridge.

Commenting on this leak, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that this conversation points to the West’s direct involvement in the Ukraine conflict. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel that the conversation may indicate that Germany is preparing for a war with Russia. The German government, however, has denied this.

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Ukraine crisis Italy

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