Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi condemned on Wednesday Moscow’s decision to hold referendums for the integration of the regions it occupied in Ukraine into Russia, considering it a violation of international law.
In his speech at the general debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place in New York, United States, Draghi stressed that the action shows that “Russia does not want the end of the conflict.”
“The Donbass independence referendums are another violation of international law, which we strongly condemn,” he said.
According to the outgoing Prime Minister of Italy, Moscow’s invasion of its neighboring country “violates the values and rules that have been, for decades, the basis of international security and civil coexistence between countries.”
“We thought that we would not see more wars of aggression in Europe,” he admitted, noting that “imperial ambitions, militarism and systematic violations of civil and human rights seemed to have persisted in the last century.”
The Italian prime minister also considered that Western sanctions on Moscow “are having a disruptive effect on Russia’s war machine and its economy” and argued that “a weaker economy makes it more difficult for Russia to respond to defeats who is suffering.” On the battlefield”.
However, he said, the European Union must now go further and impose a price cap on Russian gas imports and support member states as they support kyiv.
Italy “will continue to play a leading role in the EU and NATO, regardless of who wins the general elections on September 25,” he said.
The week of high-level discussions at the United Nations General Assembly began on Tuesday, at the UN headquarters in New York, and will continue until next Monday, with the presence of dozens of heads of state and government.
This is the first General Assembly since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the first in person since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event is being held under the theme “A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions for Interconnected Challenges”, and will focus on the war in Ukraine and the global food, climate and energy crises.
Source: TSF
