The Trump-Putin deal on the purchase of Russian diesel “is a very risky choice” and “a legitimisation for Moscow while its bombs are still falling on Ukrainian cities”, Giorgia Meloni said in Rome on Wednesday, swiftly winning Kyiv’s approval and provoking a prickly response from Russia.
The Italian prime minister, speaking in Parliament before heading to Brussels for Thursday and Friday’s European Council, warned of an “implicit weakening of the sanctions lever”, which she said runs counter to what has so far been done, including by the United States, “to push Putin to sit down at the negotiating table”.
