ROME – The president of the Italian Friends of Russia Association Lorenzo Valloreja filed a complaint to authorities as a precautionary measure following the latest in a number of threats made to the organisation since the breakout of war in Ukraine.

 Valloreja published a statement which began by defending the association’s call a few days prior to “tone down” anti-Russian sentiment.  

 “We were not wrong,” he wrote. “Now our organisation, together with many similar ones, has been threatened via the web.”

 On Saturday, an e-mail, written all in capitals and that Valloreja called “delusional and threatening,” was sent to the association, demanding them to close their office and remove themselves from the internet. The message said they were a group trying to “protect Italians from the dangerous feed of Russian animals” and that “thanks to Putin, there is a movement being born similar to the one against the Jews in the time of Nazism, both in Italy and other countries.”

 Valloreja said his association was trying to launch a diplomatic appeal towards the Kremlin for a possible Italian mediation and peaceful resolution of the Ukraine war.

 The organisation disagrees with the use of sanctions and the sending of arms, equating the measures to incitement of “cultural hatred,” in what Valloreja considers a “concrete and non-ideological” stance.

 “Logically speaking, in any discussion, and even more so in a war, there cannot be a one-way sense of truth and therefore of responsibility for what is happening,” Valloreja argues.

 He called sanctions an “irrational decision” and opines “they will not harm the economy of Moscow as desired, but, if anything, the Western economies, and especially the Italian one.”

 “We are seriously blowing on the fire, not only internationally but also on the domestic front with respect to the country's social cohesion.”

 “The very serious situation of fishermen and lorry-drivers linked to expensive fuels is only the tip of the iceberg,” continues Valloreja’s statement. “It is impossible to think of being able to do without 46 percent of Russian gas overnight, when the implementation of a serious plan B in the energy sector would require at least 10 years. In the meantime, what will happen to our economy and civil coexistence?”

 He said it must be recognised that the West has a limited sphere of influence and that “common sense and a genuine longing for peace” should be driving decisions.

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