Words taken out of context? Berlusconi explains his statements about Putin: I meant it this way! – New time

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi feels misunderstood. He made the comments on Thursday, a day after his comments about Russian aggression in Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin were published, sparking outrage. TASR informs about it based on the report of the DPA agency. “It was all taken out of context. It was spread without people knowing the full meaning of my words. The only goal was to spread insults and misinformation,” said Berlusconi, who heads the conservative Vpred Italia (FI) party. In an interview for the newspaper Corriere della Sera, he explained that he had no intention of justifying the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On the contrary, it condemns this war and has the same attitude as the Italian government, the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). His sensational remarks were made public by LaPresse, which on Wednesday released excerpts of an audio recording from the previous day of Berlusconi addressing members of his party. According to the recording, Berlusconi said that Ukraine had violated the 2014 Minsk peace agreement by launching attacks on “newly established republics in the Donbas region.” He further stated that these entities had asked Russian President Putin for help and that Putin was facing considerable pressure throughout Russia.