Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy
Premier Antonio Tajani on Thursday condemned Tuesday's "serious"
attack in Lithuania against Leonid Volkov, a former close aide
to late Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, saying it is
evidence that Moscow continues to persecute political opponents.
"We are aware of the situation in Russia, so there is little to
comment," said Tajani on the sidelines of the conference 'The
new slavery - Conference on trafficking' at the Italian Embassy
to the Holy See.
"Something really serious has happened with the death of Navalny
and the aggression of his closest aide," he continued, adding
that he had seen Volkov recently in Brussels together with
Navalny's wife. "It is proof that Russia continues to persecute
those who oppose the regime and this can only deserve our
condemnation," said Tajani.
On Tuesday Volkov, 43, was attacked with hammer blows outside
his home in Vilnius.
"Someone smashed the car window, sprayed him with pepper spray
and beaten with a hammer," said Navalny's spokeswoman Kira
Yarmysh, quoted by various media outlets.
On Italy's participation in the EU Aspides mission to protect
Red Sea shipping from attacks by Yemen-based Houthis, Tajani
denied that the country is at war.
"Italy is not at war" with the Houthis, "we are against war" and
"when there are terrorist attacks by an organisation that is not
a state, one is not at war, one is protecting one's own merchant
traffic", said Tajani.
On a recent media investigation into arms exports to Israel
based on ISTAT data, the minister said that after the Hamas
attacks on October 7 "Italy blocked the contracts for the sale
of weapons to Israel".
This "has also been recognised internationally", he added.
Since then, "there may have been fulfilment of old contracts,
but none of the items exported under contracts signed prior to
October 7 could be used in Gaza". he added.
"We are a model for compliance," concluded Tajani.
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