The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, today had a telephone conversation with the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov. The conversation was held within the framework of the efforts that Italy is making in coordination with its Allies and partners to facilitate dialogue and the relations between the Russian Federation and the Euro-Atlantic community and the de-escalation of tensions along the Russian-Ukrainian border.
While reaffirming his support for the territorial integrity and full sovereignty of Ukraine, the Minister expressed his firm support for the Normandy Format talks and the negotiation activities currently underway, emphasizing that it is a priority to seek sustainable solutions based on the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. He concomitantly underscored that any possible aggression against Ukraine would entail serious consequences and highlighted the need of signs of détente in order to build a constructive dialogue and expressed the European Union’s commitment in this sense, in close coordination with NATO and the OSCE.
Di Maio also reaffirmed that Italy will continue to contribute to the ongoing negotiation on security in Europe, which aims to re-establish trust between NATO and Russia. To this end, he encouraged his counterpart to respond to the answers given by the allies and to further talks through new meetings between the NATO Council and Russia.
