Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a recently released audio can be heard boasting about his exchange of liquor and “sweet letters” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As per the audio released by Italian news agency LaPresse, Berlusconi told his lower house lawmakers, “I have got back in touch a bit with Putin, quite a lot, in the sense that for my birthday he sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter.”
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“I answered him with some bottles of Lambrusco (wine) and an equally sweet letter,” adds Berlusconi whose birthday as per a Reuters report was on September 29.
He goes on to express his worry over the situation in Ukraine but says that he can’t share his true opinion as “if it gets in the press there’ll be a disaster.”
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Reuters reports that a spokesperson for Berlusconi’s Forza Italia has denied that the former PM was in touch with Putin, claiming that the leader was just re-telling an old story.
Attempting to salvage the situation, the party later issued a statement that said that Berlusconi and his party’s position vis-a-vis the Ukraine war remain in line with the rest of Europe and the United States and that there was “no room for ambiguity and there never has been.”
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The remarks were made as after Giorgia Meloni’s rightist alliance’s win in the September 25 Italian elections, Berlusconi negotiates cabinet positions in the new government with the Ukraine war set to enter its eighth month.
(With inputs from agencies)
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