Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke in videoconference to a delegation of the Italy-Russia Chamber of Commerce (IRCC) today. The meeting was promoted by the chairman of the IRCC Vincenzo Trani, “for the purpose of better stimulating business relations among our associates and institutions of the Russian Federation and supporting economic and trade exchanges between our two countries,” a IRCC release says. The last such meeting took place in 2018.
Putin stressed the importance of Italy as the third economic partner of Russia in the EU: “There are some 500 Italian companies in Russia. The range of industries where they operate is truly impressive: power generation, steel, oil and gas, petrochemical industries, helicopter manufacturing, high technologies, agribusiness, transport infrastructure, banking, insurance and many other sectors.” In particular, the Russian government is satisfied with cooperation in large energy projects, such as LNG and oil.
Thanks to long-term contracts, Italy is today receiving Russian natural gas at a cheaper price than the spot market: “Russia is a reliable supplier of energy resources to Italian consumers. In 2021, Gazprom delivered 22.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Italy or much more than in 2020, when it supplied 20.8 billion. I would like to point out that Italian energy companies continue working with Gazprom on the basis of long-term contracts and can therefore buy Russian gas cheaper, I would even say much cheaper than spot market prices, which have increased considerably against the backdrop of a cold winter and a supply shortage.
Putin mentioned Russia’s good economic performance despite the pandemic and in this respect regretted that the EU has not recognized the Russian vaccine. However, “in this context, I would mention the joint Russian-Italian comparison of vaccines carried out at the Italian National Institute for the Infectious Diseases, which showed that Russia’s Sputnik V demonstrated the greatest virus-neutralizing titre with respect to the Omicron variant and proved again its high effectiveness.”
Some Italian media have reported that the Italian government, under US pressure, had invited Italian companies not to participate in the meeting. It was reported that three companies, among which ENI, had pulled out.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any interference of the Italian government. “Articles in today’s newspapers don’t have great importance. The Italian government has issued no formal statement in that regard,” he said. Sixteen large companies, among which Pirelli, Enel, Banca Intesa and Assicurazioni Generali, joined the meeting, which has nothing to do “with what is occurring in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.”
