ROME — The Secretary General of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has issued Italy’s “strongest condemnation” of an attempt by the Russian Federation to annex Ukrainian territories.
On Monday morning, Ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi summoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Razov to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and proceeded to condemn in the strongest terms of “the farcical referendums, illegally conducted by the Russian Federation to annex the occupied territories in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia.”
In what the ministry described as “a coordinated action with the partners of the European Union,” Sequi urged the Russian authorities to “revoke these illegal acts, the outcome of which Italy does not intend to recognize, and to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.”
He went on to declare that the “threat of using nuclear weapons as well as the very serious violations of the principles and rules of the United Nations Charter seriously undermine global security.”
Sequi also underscored Italian and European resolve to “increase pressure on the Russian Federation to stop the aggression, reaffirming Italy’s support for Ukraine’s full sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.”
A communal worker carries a cross during the funeral of Mykhaylo Matyushenko, a colonel of Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was shot down in the sky over the Black Sea on June 26, 2022, at the Heroes Alley of the cemetery of Bucha, Kyiv region on October 3, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
The ministry’s statement followed on Pope Francis’ sternest condemnation yet of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
On Sunday, the pontiff directly called upon Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time to put an end to his assault on the people of Ukraine.
“In the name of God and in the name of the sense of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire,” the pope said. “My appeal is addressed first and foremost to the President of the Russian Federation, imploring him to stop this spiral of violence and death, also for the sake of his own people.”
“Certain actions can never be justified, never!” the pope asserted, noting how disturbing it is that the world is “learning the geography of Ukraine” through names of areas that “have become places of indescribable suffering and fear.”
Destroyed Russian armored vehicles left behind in Izium, Kharkiv, Ukraine on October 02, 2022. (Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty)
“And what about the fact that humanity is once again faced with the atomic threat? It is absurd,” Francis said.
“What is to happen next? How much blood must still flow for us to realize that war is never a solution, only destruction?” he asked.
Along with his appeal to Putin, Francis also urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “to be open to serious proposals for peace” and likewise asked “all the protagonists of international life and the political leaders of nations to do everything possible to bring an end to the war, without allowing themselves to be drawn into dangerous escalations.”
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