bad relationships
On Thursday evening, a meme surfaced on a Telegram channel, showing the face of a former British prime minister who had stepped down. It then shifted to Mario Draghi, the Italian premier who would soon follow a similar path, leaving a large question hanging in the next frame. Dmitry Medvedev, who sits as vice-president of Russia’s Security Council, reacted roughly an hour after Draghi announced his resignation as head of Italy’s government. The mood was accusatory, and the atmosphere around Rome and Moscow turned sharply hostile and infamous.
Draghi had already moved to distance Italy from Russia. Yet that stance sparked a major confrontation with sections of Italy’s political landscape. The Five Star Movement (M5S), a force capable of toppling the government, voiced strong opposition to arms deliveries to Ukraine. Draghi defended the aid to Kyiv and launched a broader strategy to lessen Italy’s reliance on Russian gas. An example was a plan to boost gas imports from Algeria, a path Draghi signaled he would pursue on the following Monday. Through these efforts, Italy reduced its dependence on Moscow from about 40% to 25%. Still, the risk remained that Moscow could cut off supplies entirely, leaving lingering economic fragility behind.
Speaking to a Russian-speaking audience and in conversations with Western officials, Italy’s public stance drew sharp responses. A prominent Russian voice, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticized the Italian government for its crisis-management narrative and suggested that the country must prioritize solutions to its own problems rather than align with perceived Western interests. Her comments were echoed by other officials who argued that Moscow was attempting to destabilize the European Union and its member states during a period of tension and sanctions. In Italy, diplomatic chatter and official channels reflected a broader frustration with the geopolitical climate and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Unusually direct language characterized the current state of relations between Russia and many European nations. The war in Ukraine has deepened rifts, with several countries imposing sanctions or stepping up military support for Ukraine. Yet historical ties persist. During the Cold War era, connections extended through various political currents, including the Italian Communist Party, which played a major role in Western European politics. Today, interactions stretch across a spectrum of parties and leaders who occasionally align with or oppose Moscow depending on domestic priorities. The overall relationship remains a mix of cooperation and friction, shaped by economic interdependence that predates the conflict and continues to influence policy choices on both sides of the Atlantic.
Data from Eurostat, requested by a major regional newspaper, underscores the economic dimension of the relationship. From 2012 through 2021, Italy’s exports to Russia averaged about 8.2 billion euros annually. While this figure places Italy below major peers like Germany, which reported around 27.4 billion euros in exports to Russia, it still represents a substantial economic link. The impact of the crisis is uneven across sectors: textiles, food processing, and machinery manufacturing were among the most exposed. Russia had also been a significant consumer of Italian goods before the wave of sanctions reoriented trade patterns. The evolving sanctions regime thus did not merely alter political sentiment; it reshaped the economic tapestry that has long tied the two nations together.