A somewhat obvious, though rarely uttered, truth about the EU’s repeated sanctioning of Russia—now in its 19th iteration—was provided yesterday by Italian deputy minister Matteo Salvini. He told Rete 4 broadcaster: “I would just like to note that almost four years of the conflict and 19 packages of sanctions, which were supposed to bring [Russia] to its knees,” have instead “brought European economies to their knees, leading to more expensive energy for Italians. This is why I call for caution in terms of rearmament and weapons.”
If that were not enough, he rubbed it in: “Neither Hitler nor Napoleon was able to bring Moscow to its knees, and I doubt that Kaja Kallas, Macron, Starmer, and Merz will be able to do that.”
Such a call to the leaders of the ‘coalition of the willing,’ to reflect upon Russia’s deep-seated capacity to meet and face adversity, may well go right past a group clearly out of their depth. However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, according to RT, greeted Salvini’s historical allusion by remarking: “The comparison is precise, the conclusion indisputable.”
