Moscow – “EU-Russian crisis: the Italian perspective”, according to Ambassador Ragaglini

A few days ago (1st June), the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Science (IMEMO) hosted the Italian Ambassador in Moscow Cesare Maria Ragaglini, who held a conference entitled “The EU-Russian crisis: the Italian perspective”. The Ambassador was received by the deputy director of the Institute Dr Voitolovsky and Professor Arbatova, an expert on European and Italian affairs. In his speech, reported on the Embassy’s website, Ragaglini “focused on the change in relations between Russia and the West following the Ukrainian crisis, and on the difficulty encountered in implementing the Minsk Agreements, as well as on the efforts made by Italy in the past two years to maintain a dialogue with the Russian Federation, which must be constantly involved in resolving big international crises”. Reference was also made to the next International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg (SPIEF), to be held on 16-18 June, which will be attended by Italy as a “Guest of Honour”. The Ambassador “spoke about the wide spectrum of bilateral relations on the eve of the imminent visit by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to the Forum, which confirms Italian interest in the Federation, based on a tradition of constantly renewed economic relations and on strong and now century-old cultural harmony”. The audience attending the event included academics, PhD students and members of the Institute. The presentation was followed by a Q&A that  touched on current international affairs as well as Italian political and economic matters.