Italy resists attempts to push it into the anti-Russian bloc

The meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the heads of leading Italian companies, which took place on January 26 via videoconference, turned into an unexpected intrigue. The previous meeting was held in October 2018 as part of a bilateral summit between Putin and Giuseppe Conte, who headed the Italian government at that time. The current one was planned back in November last year, but then the Ukrainian issue appeared on the agenda.

According to Italian newspapers, this almost led to the disruption of the meeting, which was initiated by the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and the Italian-Russian Committee on Entrepreneurship. Certain forces in the West tried to disrupt it, using as a pretext the unfolding disinformation campaign against Russia, which has been accused for several days of "imminently invading Ukraine."

Thus, Bloomberg, citing "sources who wished to remain anonymous”, reported that the Italian government asked Italian businessmen to cancel or postpone communication with Putin, "taking into account the current international situation”. However, those who expressed "regret" that the time was not quite "right" did not do it. At the same time, not even all state-owned companies decided to listen to the recommendation of the Italian government - the Eni oil and gas group refused to participate in the meeting, and the Enel energy concern, on the contrary, confirmed it.

"According to the President of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce Vincenzo Trani, a meeting like the one that took place on Wednesday, January 26, can play a role in strengthening detente," the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore writes. "In a context like ours, stability for me also means peace, Trani concludes. He is concerned about the escalation of the tone of international politics, but he relies on the common sense of European leaders and Putin: let's do business, not war."

The financial side of the issue really matters here. "Over the eleven months of last year, bilateral trade grew by 53.8% to $27.5 billion”, the Russian president noted. “I even think that after the end of the calculation, most likely, this figure will exceed the $30 billion bar. In particular, we are satisfied with the successful development of cooperation with Italian companies and banks on large-scale projects in the energy sector."

Thus, more than 60 companies from Italy are involved in the Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG-2 projects. Italian manufacturers of high-tech equipment are also actively involved in the Vostok Oil project, which Rosneft is implementing in the north of Russia, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In turn, Gazprom has sent 22.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Italy, which is significantly more than in 2020 with its 20.8 billion. It is particularly important that Italian energy companies work with Gazprom on the basis of long-term contracts.

Therefore, Rome prefers not to spoil relations with Moscow despite the pressure of "allies". But now two factors have worked that have forced the Italian government to distance itself from the meeting of entrepreneurs with Putin. Firstly, domestic policy. Italy has entered the presidential election season, which should be determined by 1009 "big electors" – 321 senators, 630 deputies and 58 delegates from the provinces. The favourite of the race is the current Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

However, so far the past few rounds of voting have not determined a candidate whose figure is the fruit of an agreement between Italian political parties. In this situation, some politicians decided to denigrate Draghi's rival, former Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, by playing anti-Russian notes.

They state that "due to what is happening on the border between Russia and Ukraine, because of Italy's role in NATO and on the Mediterranean chessboard, the new President of the Republic should be unequivocally pro-Atlantic and unambiguous in relation to Moscow”. As for Frattini, he says bluntly: "In Ukraine, Libya and the Sahel, Italy should knock on the Kremlin's doors." This infuriates the Italian "Atlanticists" orientated towards Washington.

Secondly, Rome has to face American pressure. "Italy continues to be considered, along with Germany, the most cautious of the large NATO countries regarding the Ukrainian crisis," the Italian website Il Post emphasises. “While the United States has put 8,500 soldiers on alert, declaring its readiness to transfer them to Eastern Europe on demand, and France, Great Britain and Spain have declared their intention to send weapons and vehicles, Rome avoids taking any initiative." Although Draghi's government is called more "pro-American" than its predecessor.

Given the centuries-old historical ties with Russia and the current dynamics of Italian-Russian relations, Rome is forced to manoeuvre, while resisting attempts to push it into the anti-Russian bloc. Therefore, the Italian authorities formally distanced themselves from the meeting of their entrepreneurs with Putin, calling it a "private initiative". But at the same time, Rome is not burning bridges with Moscow, as London is doing. In our opinion, Italy will continue to follow this course.