MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Italian government has finally realized that Western sanctions against Russia are counterproductive, while understanding also that the two countries should work together to defeat the common enemy that is Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State, the leader of Italy’s Lega Nord party told Sputnik on Thursday.
"The common enemy is Islamist terrorism and certainly not [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's Russia that has long fought alone and truly cutthroat Daesh," right-wing Lega Nord’s Matteo Salvini said.
Salvini, who is also a member of the European Parliament, added that, after almost two years of EU economic sanctions against Moscow, the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has finally realized the damage the restrictions have done to the national economy.
Relations between Russia and the European Union went downhill in 2014 after Brussels joined Washington in accusing Moscow of fueling the Ukrainian crisis and imposed economic sanctions as a punitive measure. Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.
