The new Russian campaign provoked protests from the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian community in Italy, as well as some local politicians.
The trigger came from the announcement of a conference entitled “The Rebirth of Mariupol” scheduled for January 20 in the north Italian city of Modena. Organized by a little-known group called the Emilia Romagna-Russia Cultural Association, it featured speakers including Russia’s consul-general in Milan, Dmitry Shtodin, and two pro-Russian Italian bloggers.
The propaganda purpose was made clear from its description on social media. Mariupol was described as “a city symbol of the Donbas popular rebellion against the Kyiv junta, a city martyr of the Banderite occupation.” The event’s aim, according to organizers, was to describe a “rapid process of reconstruction led by the institutions of the Russian Federation, of which [the city] has become an integral part.”
Anyone using an internet search engine can find the true story. Mariupol, a port city of 425,000 people on the Sea of Azov, was besieged for 11 weeks by Russian forces in the spring of 2022.
The destruction, and the indifference of Putin’s forces in using heavy artillery barrages against civilian-populated areas, was extraordinary. No one has been able to count the dead, who were left on the streets for weeks and ultimately buried in communal graves. But Mariupol’s authorities said they believed at least 22,000 were killed.
“It is absolutely dark inside the city. The only lights are from Russian troops and Russian patrols,” mayoral adviser Petro Andriushchenko said in May 2022. “Everywhere it’s the smell of death and the smell of fire.”
The city’s destruction has become a symbol of Russia’s war of aggression and of Ukraine’s suffering, its crucifixion the subject of a powerful documentary film, 20 Days in Mariupol.
So the Ukrainian community in Italy, numbering around 400,000, was up in arms, as were many Italians when they heard the news of the Modena meeting. The Ukrainian ambassador Yaroslav Melnyk sent an open letter to the mayor of Modena, Gian Carlo Muzzarelli (who represents a center-left Partito Democratico), calling on him to cancel the event, which was set to take place in a city-owned communal hall rented for the occasion.
Melnyk recalled Russian war crimes in Mariupol, such as the bombings of a maternity hospital and drama theater, and the ongoing deportations of Ukrainian children from the occupied city. “We consider this event . . . an open insult to the memory of thousands of civilian victims and a manifestation of Russian propaganda,” he said.
The mayor of Modena, Gian Carlo Muzzarelli, was initially reluctant to act. He argued the hall’s rental was purely commercial and did not signal the city’s support. “Russians have paid for the hall, that’s it,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
However, after Ukraine’s official reaction to the event and extensive media coverage, the event was finally canceled.
The Modena event might be written off as an isolated case were it not part of a coordinated effort. In the month of January alone, at least three similar events were scheduled to take place around Italy: in Milan, Bologna, and Lucca. And while some future Russia-friendly events have now been canceled, others will go ahead.
One featured Alexander Dugin as an online guest. A neo-fascist academic, he is close to the Kremlin, is a proponent of Eurasianism, and has incited the genocide of Ukrainians. Another was dedicated to his late daughter, also a propagandist, who died in a car bombing
These events were organized by another pro-Russian “cultural association” which seems to have ties to Italian far-right movements. Elements of the Italian extreme and populist right have long been accused of financial and political ties to the Kremlin (see here and here.)
So what have we learned? The Modena mayor’s initial refusal to act illustrates the unfortunate fact that many in Italy still believe — to the benefit of the Kremlin’s agents of influence — that Russian disinformation is not a real threat. Organizers of pro-Russian events meanwhile invoke democratic rights and freedom of speech in response to criticism. Too often the irony of this Russian-manufactured absurdity is missed.
There is ample evidence that Russia wages war not only on the battlefield but in the information and cyber domains too; and this also affects the West. Allowing Kremlin disinformation agents to operate freely has nothing to do with freedom of speech.
To underestimate or ignore this in 2024, after almost two years of brutal war in Ukraine, preceded and accompanied by industrial-scale genocidal propaganda, and multiple attempts to undermine Western democracies, means to be dangerously naïve or complicit.
It might seem that such low-profile events, as the one in Modena, organized by little-known organizations and featuring marginal speakers, should be ignored and not taken seriously. But only until one looks at the bigger picture.
Russia has been using Italy as a testing ground for many of its information and influence operations in the past, aiming to undermine its democracy and split the EU and NATO.
In 2020, amid the Covid pandemic, Italy, then governed by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte from the 5 Star Movement, was the only Western country to allow a major Russian influence operation on its soil: a “humanitarian convoy” of military vehicles, accompanied by a massive pro-Russian propaganda effort.
Russian disinformation is proliferating on Italian mainstream media. After the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ample space was given to Russian officials, such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Russian state media propagandists, to deny Russian war crimes and spread lies about Ukraine.
Prominent Italian journalists questioned massacres committed by Russian forces in Bucha, and never apologized when ample evidence emerged of those horrors. Too many Italian politicians on both extremes support of the Kremlin. Some Italian companies still continue to work in Russia, allegedly helping its war machine.
It must be said that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni like her predecessor, Mario Draghi, has firmly supported Ukraine in its fight, as well as Ukraine’s EU membership bid.
But it could help still more by investigating the funding and operations of murky pro-Russian “cultural associations”, as well as possible links of multiple bloggers and so-called “independent journalists”, who justify Russian war crimes and spread disinformation. There must be an honest discussion to raise societal awareness, especially among politicians and opinion leaders.
There are many things that can be done, but it all starts with an acknowledgment of the problem.
Olga Tokariuk is a Nonresident Fellow at CEPA. She is a journalist and disinformation researcher and is also a fellow with Chatham House Ukraine Forum.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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