Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani "only
attracted more attention" to Italy's "problems" when he summoned
Russia's ambassador to Rome on Thursday, Russian foreign
ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.
"Why such a reaction?", wondered Zakharova in an interview to
Russian newspaper Izvestia, published a day after Tajani
summoned the Russian ambassador after more accusations were
waged by Moscow against Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
"Apparently, because we have once again struck at the heart of
the problem: we caught the same person lying", the Russian
foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
"They have nothing to defend themselves and thus they decided to
attack.
"But they did it in vain.
"First of all, they only attracted attention to their problems.
"And secondly, you'll discover more later", she said.
Tajani, who is also deputy premier, on Thursday summoned the
Russian ambassador to Italy after an "umpteenth" attack by
Moscow on President Sergio Mattarella.
Tajani said he "severely condemns the latest verbal attack from
Russia" on the Italian head of State.
"The President of the Republic is a man of peace and a symbol of
national and European unity," he said.
Following the attack, Tajani asked the Secretary General of the
Farnesina (foreign ministry), Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, to
summon the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Rome.
Zakharova on Thursday accused Mattarella of lying after his
criticism of Moscow's "nuclear narrative" when he was in
Hiroshima last weekend as part of a State visit to Japan.
During a meeting with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
atomic bombings, Mattarella said the Russian Federation had
become "the promoter of a renewed and dangerous nuclear
narrative, in addition to blocking the work of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty, withdrawing from ratification of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and threatening Ukraine,
instilling the unacceptable idea that nuclear weapons can become
an ordinary tool in conflict management as if they would not
inevitably lead to total destruction."
Zakharova said this was untrue.
"Italian President Sergio Mattarella's claims that Russia
threatens Europe with nuclear weapons are lies and falsehoods,"
Zakharova was quoted as saying by Tass.
Italian institutions and companies came under a series of
cyberattacks by pro-Russian hackers after Mattarella recently
compared Russia to the Third Reich in relation to its invasion
of Ukraine.
Zakharova had said those comments by Mattarella would not go
"without consequences".
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