ROME – Media mogul and Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi destabilised the putative Italian government coalition by boasting of ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin who sent him "20 bottles of vodka" for his birthday. 

 In an address to lower house lawmakers, an audio recording of which was leaked on Monday by news agency La Presse, Berlusconi dealt first with the war in Ukraine, “I personally cannot provide my opinion because if it is reported to the press there will be a fiasco”, before telling of his own warm relationship with the Russian leader.

 “For my birthday Putin sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter.  I sent him back some bottles of Lambrusco and an equally sweet letter,” the former Italian prime minister explained.

 Berlusconi’s seemingly pro-Putin position undermines Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni, as she has always supported Ukraine and promised in September to continue sending arms to Kyiv.  Tension on such a key issue jeopardises the expected coalition between Brothers of Italy, Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League party.  Meloni is yet to comment on the leaked audio.

 Berlusconi went on to describe the Russian President, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February and later threatened nuclear retaliation to Western intervention, as “a peaceful and reasonable person”.

 Their friendship has a history of gift-giving; for his 65th birthday in 2017 Putin received from Berlusconi a bedsheet adorned with a life-size image of the pair shaking hands.

 The recent statements made by the Forza Italia leader led his own party to formally deny any communication between Berlusconi and Putin.   These comments did not refer to his recent 86th birthday on Sept. 29, but instead to “an episode many years ago”, a party spokesman claimed.

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