Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday he would do everything possible to lift European sanctions against Russia.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2018) Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday he would do everything possible to lift European sanctions against Russia.
"This process [imposition of anti-Russia sanctions] will continue. I can't tell you when this will stop. But clearly these sanctions are meaningless. ... As for me, I will do my best to have these sanctions lifted as soon as possible," Salvini said at the "Russia-Italy: Challenges and Perspectives of Economic, Industrial and Commercial Cooperation" event, organized in Moscow by Confindustria Russia, the association representing and supporting Italian companies operating in Russia.
Leaders of the European Union seem to be ready to continue taking the path of sanctions, he noted.
"They set up mechanisms for automatic introduction of new sanctions. And I am completely unhappy with that," the politician concluded.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in June that Italy would promote the revision of anti-Russia sanctions, saying that Moscow had played a major role in resolving geopolitical crises in recent years. The new Italian government, which was formed in late May by a coalition comprising the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the eurosceptic Lega party, stated the need to lift the EU sanctions imposed on Russia in their government coalition agreement.
