Former Prime Minister Berlusconi has caused a stir in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Italy with statements about Vladimir Putin.
The 85-year-old politician said in a television interview on Thursday that the Kremlin was being pushed to invade Ukraine.
“Putin was pushed by the Russian people, by a party, by his ministers to come up with this special operation,” Berlusconi told Rai TV channel. Berlusconi is a friend of the Russian president and was hesitant to condemn the invasion long after the war broke out. But, he said, “Putin has found himself in a complicated and dramatic situation.”
According to Berlusconi, deputies from the two self-declared “republics” in the Donbas had asked Putin to intervene. The separatist “republics” are said to have convinced the Russian president of the need for intervention by saying that Ukraine was attacking the two areas with increasing violence.
Moreover, Putin wanted to replace the government of Volodimir Zelensky with a “government of decent people”, according to the party leader of Forza Italia, a smaller partner in the right-wing alliance with a chance of winning Sunday’s elections.