Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday “deeply disappointed and pained by the behavior of Vladimir Putin”, to whom he was close but who took “very serious responsibility in front of the whole world” by attacking Ukraine.
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“I cannot and I also do not want to hide that I am deeply disappointed by the behavior of Vladimir Putin, who has taken on a very serious responsibility in front of the whole world”, he affirmed during a public meeting. in Rome of his right-wing Forza Italia party, which is part of the broad coalition supporting the government led by Mario Draghi.
“I had known him twenty years ago and he had always seemed to me to be a democrat and a man of peace”, continued the 85-year-old billionaire, who was three times head of government between 1994 and 2011. Mr. Berlusconi had so far refrained from publicly criticizing Mr. Putin.
When he was in power, Mr Berlusconi had forged a personal friendship with the Russian president, even inviting him on holiday to his luxurious villa in Sardinia.
“Faced with the horror of the massacres of civilians in Boutcha and in other localities, real war crimes, Russia cannot deny its responsibilities”, he further denounced.
