MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In October, Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said that Italy remained committed to a dialogue with Russia, however, adding that Rome would deploy some 140 troops to Latvia in 2018, as it was announced at the NATO summit in July.
"We don't understand and are very ashamed of this decision by the current Italian government. We are against NATO and its creeping policy of getting closer to the Russian border. We continue to call on the EU to establish close coordination with Russia on counterterrorism efforts," Michele Dell'Orco said.
At the NATO summit in Warsaw on July 8, Alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the military bloc would strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe on a rotational basis with four battalions in Poland and in the Baltic nations.
Dell'Orco underlined that his party, which delegates are currently visiting Moscow to promote bilateral ties, sees Russia as a strategic partner.
The lawmaker called new anti-Russia sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union "ridiculous and unjustified." He stressed that European member-states suffer tremendous losses due to the sanction policy.
In 2014, relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated significantly as the crisis in Ukraine escalated, with Crimea rejoining Russia and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine rising up against the rule of a new coup-imposed government in Kiev.
The United States and its allies, accusing Moscow of fueling tensions in eastern Ukraine, introduced a series of sanctions against Russia as a punitive measure.
Moscow refuted any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and imposed a year-long food embargo on the countries that had sanctioned it, which was later prolonged as the sanctions were extended.
