Rome and Moscow are clashing over the appointment of former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov as an advisor to the Italian Ministry of Defense. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova harshly criticized the choice , calling the appointment "very ridiculous" during a briefing, comparing it to a satirical tale by Gianni Rodari.
"If Gianni Rodari were alive, I think he would write a satirical fable about this, but I'm not sure it would be funnier than the true story," Zakharova said, quoted by the Tass news agency. The Russian spokeswoman then launched a direct attack on Fedorov's expected role in Italy. "It's symbolic," she said, "that innovation in Italy will be managed by a man who, in a recent interview, acknowledged the utter ineffectiveness of his own department, declaring that he believes the efficiency of the Ukrainian state system is approximately 5%." "While ordinary citizens are being mobilized to the trenches in Ukraine to face certain death, the Kiev regime's managers are converting military defeats into personal international contracts, and they are not ashamed of it," the Russian diplomatic spokeswoman concluded.
These words prompted a response from Defense Minister Guido Crosetto: "I understand that they would prefer that decisions for Italy be made by someone who consults Moscow first, but for now that's not the case, and we're thinking only of Rome, not Moscow, Kiev, or Washington," Crosetto declared.
The minister then picked up on Rodari's quote: "But there is something positive: if you've read Rodari, which I doubt, you'll have understood that we don't want to end up like the rat that ate cats, and therefore we also need field experience," he added. "But I doubt that you or our fellow citizens, whom you wanted to set in motion with your message, will want to accept it, because it would make us weak and defenseless."
(Unioneonline/D)
