Sending more and more arms to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion is “unleashing an apocalyptic chain reaction,” the president of Italian WWII partisans’ group ANPI said Friday, in another plea for peace after controversial stances seen as being soft on Moscow. “They are creating an apocalyptic chain reaction that could lead to a catastrophe,” said Gianfranco Pagliarulo.
The ANPI chief added that “it is wrong to identify the Italian Resistance with the Ukrainian resistance.,” saying that “our Resistance took place in a completely different historical context”. He also said that NATO flags would be “inappropriate” at the upcoming April 25 Liberation Day celebrations marking Italy’s liberation from the Fascists and Nazis during WWII. “We must speak of peace and I don’t think that NATO is a peace organization,” he said. Pagliarulo denied being pro-Moscow saying ANP may sue anyone who makes that allegation and said that the organization had “never been equidistant in this conflict, we’ve always been on the side of the attacked over the aggressors”.
But he repeated that ANPI had always been against sending arms to Ukraine, saying there was a risk of “creating a new Afghanistan in the heart of Europe”. Asked if he would give in to calls to resign for his allegedly pro-Putin stances, Pagliarulo said “don’t make me laugh” and said that he had been “completely misrepresented” as a supporter of the Russia president, Vladimir Putin. Among the reactions to Pagliarulo’s statements, centre-left Democratic Party (PD) former Senate whip Andrea Marcucci said “the ANPI head’s statements continue to be very questionable. The Ukrainian resistance helped by Europe is a way to convince Putin to dialogue. The alternative is surrender”.
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