”Our position does not change: we have always said that Ukraine needed to be helped in every possible way, and we are doing so, but we have also always excluded direct intervention by our military in the conflict”. He says so in an interview with ‘Corriere della Sera’ the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto.
”Unlike others, we have in our system an explicit prohibition on direct military interventions, outside of what is provided for by the laws and the Constitution. We can only foresee armed interventions upon international mandate, for example in implementation of a UN resolution. The one hypothesized in Ukraine would not only not be included in this case, but would trigger a further spiraling of the conflict which would not be of benefit above all to the Ukrainians themselves. In short, the conditions for our direct involvement do not exist”. As for the words of the French president Macron, “I don’t judge a president of a friendly country like France, but I don’t understand the purpose and usefulness of these declarations, which objectively raise tension”. For Crosetto “if the Russians arrived in Kiev, if they conquered a sovereign country, if we took for granted, like some self-styled experts and professors who are complacent towards Russia, and I wonder how one can be free…, that one can invade another country just because one is more strong, it would be a disaster for everyone”. Therefore Italy will continue to ”provide aid, as we have done so far, as long as it is useful and as long as we are able to do so”.
”All countries can do something more in terms of aid, but above all we must believe and insist on diplomacy. We need to go back to forcing the hand of the UN, of Putin, at the Geneva conference; the Vatican can also resume its mediation. We must leave no stone unturned to reach a truce: even one day without bombs is a result, because then it can become two, or three, or four…”.
