President Sergio Mattarella and
Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday laid wreaths at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument in Rome, or
the Altar of the Homeland, to mark Armed Forces and National
Unity Day in Italy.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa
and Lower House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana also took part in the
ceremony.
In a message to Crosetto, Mattarella stressed that the armed
forces made it possible for Italy to be a "united, free and
democratic State.
"Peace is a value to cultivate and preserve, now more than ever,
and today's aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation
calls for us to take the responsibility to show our convictions
in a concrete away, highlighting the need to safeguard the
principles that international cooperation is based on with our
allies," he added.
At the end of the ceremony, Meloni told reporters that armed
forces day was a "moment that unites us" and that it "unites us
with all the people that sacrificed themselves to defend us and
our credibility".
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