Italian President Sergio Mattarella on
Friday called for a fair peace in Ukraine, saying neither of the
sides at war must be mortified as a solution based on
highhandedness would not last long, speaking during an interview
with Japanese State broadcaster NHK.
Asked about efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, Mattarella
said peace "must be searched with conviction, fast", calling for
a solution that "does not mortify either of the two sides but is
fair in order to last, because a peace based on bullying would
not last long".
The violation of the rules of international law is
"inadmissible" and risks affirming "the principle that a
stronger State can impose its will through weapons to
neighbouring States" that are "less strong and less big",
continued the head of State.
"This would render international relations barbaric and this is
why there is a strong defence and a strong support for Ukraine
in Europe", noted Mattarella, because if such a logic were to
prevail, "other aggressions would follow and a sequence of
aggressions would inevitably lead to a war of unimaginable
proportions".
"The one by Russia against Ukraine was an aggression in
violation of the rules of international law, of the UN charter,
of any rule of cohabitation between countries", he went on to
say.
The head of State also told the Japanese State broadcaster that
this occurred "in violation of a Treaty that Russia did not sign
even 30 years ago with Ukraine" when the latter "had handed over
to Russia some 5,000 nuclear warheads" that had belonged to the
Soviet Union.
"Europe has been trying for three years to induce Russia to
negotiate and we all hope it will finally be available" to do
so, continued Mattarella, reiterating that a peace surrendering
to the "supremacy of weapons" would "open a highly dangerous
season for international life".
The president also said it was too soon to talk about the
possibility of deploying Italian troops as part of a
peacekeeping mission to Ukraine, replying to a specific
question.
"Peace talks haven't even started yet, speaking about what will
happen in terms of solutions is totally out of context", he
said.
The president also said Italy and Japan shared the conviction
that "international life is only possible if there are certain
rules respected by all".
"Japan and Italy think that rules must be respected" and that
their violation leads to a "dramatic situation like at this
moment in Ukraine".
The president also highlighted in the interview that Italy and
Japan are "two major exporting countries that share the very
founded conviction that it is indispensable to have open
economies, economic cooperations between States that create
integration and interdependence.
"A world made of closed economies, one against the other, is an
unlivable world.
"Instead, a world made of open economies has always accompanied
peace in history", he noted, stressing that Italy and Japan
share the same opinions on "all the main international issues"
and have common values "like democracy, freedom, the rule of
law, a free market".
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