At her weekly briefing on Oct. 16, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova lambasted the Italian government for its refusal to issue visas for the Russian delegation to attend this year’s Oct. 14-18 International Astronautical Congress, taking place in Milan.
“Russia is outraged by Italy’s refusal to issue visas to a delegation from the Russian Federation to participate in the 75th International Astronautical Congress,” she said. She noted that Russia was prepared to send a major delegation to Milan, headed by Roscosmos Director-General Yuri Borisov. “The Italian side has once again grossly neglected its obligations as a country hosting a major international event. We regard this as nothing less than an unlawful, unfounded decision to refuse entry visas to the Russian delegation.” ... Rome’s decision completely contradicts the goals and objectives of the [International Astronautical] Federation, undermines the foundations of international cooperation in the field of research and peaceful exploration of space, and deals another blow to Russian-Italian relations, which, due to the actions of the Italian leadership, are experiencing their deepest crisis since the end of World War II,” she said.
“Now official Rome has once again confirmed its groveling before the ‘collective West.’ To its own detriment. … All this is apparently necessary in order to serve Washington. There is simply no other option in sight. And the U.S. needs this in order to prevent the formation of a multipolar world. The West needs this in order to maintain the irrevocably disappearing Western-centric ‘rules-based world order,’ and in fact on their one rule—the rule of the strong,” she concluded.
