In an interview with the Il Messaggero newspaper, Crosetto referred to a division this issue might generate among regional nations because “in fundamental and strategic choices Europe is nothing more than a sum of wills, sometimes convergent and very often divergent, of various States.”

Regarding Macron’s repeated references to a possible involvement of European troops in this conflict, the Italian Defense Minister said that this difficult stage “requires analytical capacity, rationality, tactical and diplomatic competence”, so in his opinion it is doubtful that this option would be beneficial.

“This time has no similar precedents in recent history”, the minister stressed, and argued that, if we have to look for similar examples, we will see dramatic results such as the two world wars.

Crosetto recalled that last year he argued in international forums and speaking with Zelensky during a visit to Rome, that “the Ukrainian counter-offensive would not succeed because of the Russian military superiority and could be detrimental to the outcome of the conflict”, but they did not listen to him.

Last Saturday the minister assured, in response to a question posed by a journalist of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, that in Italy “we have always ruled out a direct intervention of our troops in the Ukrainian conflict”.

Referring to recent statements by Macron, he expressed that “I do not judge the president of a friendly country, like France, but I do not understand the purpose and usefulness of these statements, which objectively increase tension.”

pll/jha/ort