Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi speaks in Rome, Italy on September 22.
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Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing criticism for comments about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine.
The 86-year-old former Italian leader said he “restored relations with President Putin,” according to audio released this week by Italian news agency LaPresse.
Putin sent him 20 bottles of vodka and a “very sweet letter” last month for his birthday, Berlusconi says, and sent him a letter and some Italian sparkling wine, according to LaPresse audio.
He boasted that Putin called him “the first of his five true friends.”
A secret recording: Berlusconi’s comments were surreptitiously captured during a meeting of his Forza Italia party in the chamber of Parliament on Tuesday, his office confirmed to CNN on Thursday, while confirming the authenticity of the audio clips released by LaPresse.
Berlusconi, who will be part of Italy’s incoming coalition government, can be heard saying Putin “was against any initiative” over the war against Ukraine.
In the audio clips, the Italian politician can be heard talking to members of his party about what he believed led to the war.
It accuses Kyiv of violating a 2014 treaty with separatist-held regions in the Donbas and says the area’s Russian-backed leaders asked Putin to defend them.
“He (Putin) entered Ukraine and was faced with a situation of unexpected and unpredictable resistance from the Ukrainians, who started receiving money and weapons from the West on the third day (of the war),” he said. can hear Berlusconi say. “And the war, instead of being a two-week operation, has become a war of two centuries.”
In the LaPresse audio, Berlusconi can also be heard saying: “I don’t see how Putin and Zelensky can sit at a mediation table.
Defending his remarks: Berlusconi defended his comments Thursday in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“Everything was taken out of context. He circulated without knowing the overall meaning of my words. With the only margin to spread misinformation and lies”, he told the newspaper.
“I do not deny my past friendship with Vladimir Putin, which led to important results, which were achieved in full agreement with our Western allies… But today the circumstances have changed,” he said.
The comments he made “ended with the condemnation of the Russian invasion and with the hope of a negotiated solution that would end this massacre and protect the rights of the Ukrainian people,” Berlusconi continued.