To say that there has been bad blood between the Kremlin and RAI lately is almost an understatement. In fact, the accusations leveled by Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, against journalists of the Italian public service continue. After having denounced the foreign correspondents of Tg1 Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini for “illegal crossing of the state border” – with the related summons to the Russian Foreign Ministry of the Italian ambassador to Moscow, Cecilia Piccioni – now, reports Il Giornale, Moscow is targeting another RAI correspondent, Ilario Piagnerelli. The reason for the accusation is a report of his, taken as a cue to highlight a similarity of the radio and television company to Volkischer Beobachter, the official press organ of Hitler’s Nazi Party.
But let’s take a step back. Where do these skirmishes between Moscow and the information proposed by Rai arise? First of all, it is no secret that in the Kremlin area there is a latent nervousness due to the Ukrainian advance in Kursk, which is putting that area of Vladimir Putin’s kingdom in crisis. It is precisely in an attempt to tell what is happening in the war within the Russian borders that, according to the Kremlin, the team of Italian journalists would have “infiltrated with the aim of covering a criminal terrorist attack by Ukrainian militants”. But it is not just a warning, because the Russian Interior Ministry, the newspaper writes, would in fact intend to start a procedure “under Article 322” which punishes those who cross the border without permission.
The Russian irritation has not ended here: now the service under the scrutiny of the prosecution is that of Ilario Piagnerelli, the Rai correspondent who recently had an interviewee appear in his journalistic product wearing a hat with the symbol of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler division. This was enough for Zakharova to affirm that the Rai journalist was a “lover of Ukrainian neo-Nazis”. Lavrov’s spokeswoman even identified a parallel between the Italian information and the official press organ of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.
Part of the Italian political hemisphere has lined up in defense of the Rai journalists questioned with intimidating reactions by the Kremlin. After Azione and Italia Viva, some members of the Rai Supervisory Commission of Fratelli d’Italia have also lashed out in a note against Moscow’s accusations, denouncing in turn “an unacceptable attitude towards Rai”. There is also a dig at the person directly involved: “After the announced measure against journalists Battistini and Traini, today we have to witness a ridiculous scene, with Maria Zakharova giving journalism lessons regarding an interview with Ilario Piagnerelli. We are forced to register yet another threat to public service and the right to correct information. We renew our solidarity with journalists Battistini, Traini and Piagnerelli”.
The result, meanwhile, is that the Tg1 correspondents who wrote the reports targeted by the Russian power have returned home “to ensure their own protection”. Another not very reassuring, and certainly worrying, signal regarding the work of war correspondents who try to do their job amidst a thousand obstacles.
#Nazis #Tempo
2024-08-21 10:26:29
