When he reached his shop in via Monti yesterday morning he couldn't believe his eyes: during the night someone had daubed the shop's shutter with a swastika and the letter "Z", used by Russian military vehicles in the war in Ukraine . A clear reference to the conflict, and an act of vandalism, perhaps intimidating, very specific because it was aimed at a business that, since 2006, has been selling Russian food products, later specializing in the trade of other Eastern European specialties. Whoever carried out the gesture was immortalized by the business's security cameras. Images that accompanied the complaint presented today by the owners of the Alionusca shop at the police station.
The sorrow
«We are speechless», comments saddened Ivo Spanu, who runs the shop together with his wife. «She is Belarusian. But even if it were Russian, something like this is not acceptable. The shop offers everything, including Ukrainian, Romanian and Polish products. And it has become a meeting point, and reference point, for many people coming from Eastern Europe. We really don't understand who could have done something like this. Surely he is a fool, looking for fifteen minutes of fame." Spanu adds: «We have been working peacefully for eighteen years and have never had any problems. When we opened we had typical Russian products for sale. Then we also added books and crafts, subsequently expanding to other Eastern European nations."
The investigations
After the complaint was filed, investigations began by Digos. The presence of the video surveillance system should simplify the search for the man who, with a spray can, drew the swastika and the letter "Z": his face only partially covered by a neck warmer. «We are truly speechless», continues Spanu. «There isn't even a Russian flag in the shop. Many Ukrainian caregivers also come here looking for work and we sometimes put them in contact with some families who really need help at home." Nothing had ever happened in the past: «We are very well placed in the area and we have never had any problems with our customers. This is why we think it is an act of an intolerant person with problems."
MV
