Former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi caused a stir again with comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin that appeared on Tuesday, writes dpa.
News agency LaPresse released audio of Berlusconi's secretly recorded speech to Forza Italia members of parliament on Tuesday. In it, the 86-year-old politician says he has reconnected with Putin and says the Kremlin leader considers him one of his "five real friends".
At first, Berlusconi confidants, including potential future foreign minister Antonio Tajani, dismissed the comments as "old stories."
However, in the recording, Berlusconi directly says that Russian ministers say that the West is already at war with Russia because it "gives Ukraine weapons and money," the publication notes.
On Tuesday evening, Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, which as part of a right-wing coalition recently won the election, only said that Berlusconi's position on Ukraine, as before, coincides with the position of Europe and the United States.
Forza Italia is currently in talks to become a minority partner in a coalition led by Giorgia Maloney's far-right Brothers of Italy party, which also includes the far-right populist League party.
There is a fear that Italy may no longer support Kyiv after the new government led by Maloney comes to power, the publication notes.
A few days before the Italian election, Berlusconi, who had long hesitated to condemn the invasion after the war began, said that Putin "was forced" to invade Ukraine.
Enrico Letta, head of Italy's Social Democrats (PD), warned in a tweet that the comments should not be taken lightly.
"The new majority is in the process of dangerously shifting Italy's position towards Russia towards ambiguity," said Letta, the former prime minister.
Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called Berlusconi's "honeymoon with Putin" and Forza Italia senator Maurizio Gasparri's anti-abortion proposal moving in a direction that would "lead them to crash into the wall."