On the stage of the Sanremo Festival, after reading Zelenski’s message the Kyiv band Antytila performed to “transmit a strong message on the Ukrainian resistance to the Italian public”. Shortly before in Brescia and Bergamo, the concerts of the Russian pianist Denis Matsuev scheduled for the International Piano Festival had been cancelled. It occurred after the Ukrainian ambassador had asked the mayors of the two cities to cancel “the performances of the musician who was supposed to be close to Putin’s positions”.

Even heavier was the interference of Kyiv in Italian internal affairs when former Premier Silvio Berlusconi said in an interview that to avoid war, “it was enough for Zelenski to stop attacking the two autonomous Republics of Donbas“. Kyiv declared that “Silvio Berlusconi’s latest comments on Ukraine cause a huge scandal“, called him “infamous” and accused him of “kissing Putin’s hands, full of blood up to his elbows“.

At the same time, US Secretary of Defence Austin reiterates that “the Free World remains at Ukraine’s side and Russia is now a global pariah“, convening the “Contact Group for the Defence of Ukraine” in Brussels to ask the over 50 countries which are part of it including Italy, to send even more weapons to Kyiv.

Soon after the NATO Summit of Defence Ministers established other war measures against Russia. Among these: “Strengthening our advanced defences“, i.e. deploying more and more military forces and strategic weapons including nuclear ones close to Russia; “Enhance industrial capacity to replenish stocks of weapons and ammunition, consumed by the huge amount that the Allies have supplied to Ukraine”. The Summit decided on a further increase in military spending.

The 2,800 million dollars that the US spends on average every day for its military forces is not enough. Italy’s military expenditure has risen to 80 million euros a day but must reach 100 million a day. All of this from the United States to Italy is paid for by the citizens, who bear the growing weight of the economic crisis caused by the war.

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This article was originally published on byoblu.

Manlio Dinucci, award winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image: Berlusconi with the Russian president Vladimir Putin in Italy, 2008 (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)