Russian Foreign Ministry says Italy is afraid to discuss neo-Nazism after censoring Lavrov's interview

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera censored an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for fear of discussing the problem of neo-Nazism in the modern world. This was stated on November 13 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, at the plenary session of the V International Forum "Mass Media and Digital Technologies facing the Challenge of information and Historical falsification."

According to her, Lavrov personally prepared several pages of answers to the questions of the newspaper's journalists, having received them from Italy. And then some "games" began, which, according to the diplomat, surprised the newspaper's correspondents themselves.

"When it became clear that the publication was stalling, we were informed that there was "not enough space" in the newspaper to post the answers of the head of the Russian foreign ministry to the questions of the newspaper itself," Zakharova's Telegram channel quoted her as saying.

The Russian Foreign Ministry was sympathetic to the request to "shorten the interview" due to lack of space on the pages. Perhaps in Italy, "there are problems with paper, as well as with other areas of their lives," she said.

At the same time, the ministry suggested that the Italians publish the full version of Lavrov's interview on the Corriere della Sera website, or provide a link to the Russian Embassy's page, where the full text is posted. However, even in this case, the response indicated that they could only post an abbreviated electronic version of it and accompanied by their comments.

"When we saw her, everything became clear. Fragments related to neo—Nazism, the most painful topic for Western Europe, were blurred. They do not even want to admit the idea that their citizens can be told the truth about a disease that they have been afflicted with for centuries. In the current realities — illegal migration, Russophobia, taking into account their own historical past associated with fascism, with the "black shirts", "brownshirts" and so on — this is the most painful and unresolved problem for them," Zakharova said.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russian media on November 11 that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was showing by all his actions that he was a Nazi by presenting awards to fighters of Azov (recognized as a terrorist group, banned in Russia) and other Nazi battalions with Nazi Germany chevrons on their hands. There is no evidence to the contrary. The minister added that the destruction of Nazism and denazification are mandatory conditions for the settlement of the conflict, and Russia will strive for this.

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