Hundreds of posters have appeared on billboards across Italy this summer, bearing the slogan: \u201cRussia is not our enemy\u201d and depicting a handshake in the colors of the Italian and Russian flags. <\/p>\n
Some, including those that appeared in Rome this week, also feature the words, \u201cEnough money for weapons for Ukraine and Israel. We want peace. We reject war.\u201d <\/p>\n
The posters, which first appeared in northern Italy in June and have been seen in Verona, Modena, Parma, Pisa and several cities in the southern region of Calabria, were paid for by associations that were formed to protest the country\u2019s Covid-19 lockdowns, according to Sovranita Popolare, the group organizing the billboard campaign in Rome. <\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s embassy in Rome was unhappy about the development. \u201cWe are deeply concerned by the arrogance of Russian propaganda in the Eternal City,\u201d it posted on X, adding: \u201cWe ask @comuneroma to reconsider granting permits for such posters that have a clear purpose of rehabilitating the image of the aggressor state.\u201d <\/p>\n
Official reaction to the posters has varied from region to region. In some places, the posters were removed by local officials, while in others they have been allowed to remain until the expiry of their payment. <\/p>\n
In Rome, the posters drew ire from the mayor\u2019s office because they featured both the city\u2019s name and its official symbol. In a decree to local police and the advertising company that owns the billboards in Rome, it ordered the removal of all posters. <\/p>\n
On Friday, Sovranita Popolare posted a lengthy article on its website, taking responsibility for the campaign and quoting Article 11 of the Italian constitution, which reads: \u201cItaly rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means for the settlement of international disputes. <\/p>\n
\u201cItaly agrees, on conditions of equality with other States, to the limitations of sovereignty that may be necessary to a world order ensuring peace and justice among the Nations. Italy promotes and encourages international organisations furthering such ends,\u201d the constitution continues. <\/p>\n
It goes on to say, \u201cFor two years, Italian warmongers have been fueling Russophobia, a feeling of hatred towards Russian people, culture and art.\u201d <\/p>\n
Officially, the Italian government under Giorgia Meloni backs the country\u2019s continued military support to Ukraine, under a resolution agreed by the European Union. Meloni and Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, have met several times in Rome. Earlier this month, they met at the European House\u2019s Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy. <\/p>\n
But several members of Meloni\u2019s ruling coalition have privately shown sympathy for Russia, including the late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi \u2013 whose close friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was well documented \u2013 and her deputy prime minister and transport minister, Matteo Salvini, who was famously photographed wearing a Putin T-shirt in Moscow\u2019s Red Square, before the war began. <\/p>\n
A survey carried out in May for the European Council of Foreign Relations think tank showed that the majority of those polled in Italy, along with Greece and Bulgaria, opposed increasing aid to Ukraine. <\/p>\n
The Russian propaganda posters have not caused notable outcry among the Italian public, in part because they started appearing during the summer months, when most Italians take their vacations. <\/p>\n
Most of the comments on the Ukrainian embassy\u2019s post on X argue that Italy should not be subject to censorship, and that free speech should be allowed. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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