anti-personnel and anti-tank mines Italian placed on Ukrainian territory for met the Russian army. This is the accusation, complete with photos, published on Twitter, by the Russian Embassy in Italy, which the Federation is using to attack Rome, which they say is guilty of supplying weapons that will cause Victim “for a long time”. But the message’s version is debunked by the Secretary of Defense himself, Guido Crosettowhich explains that “the production of anti-personnel mines is in Italy set more than 28 years ago with a moratorium imposed by the Italian government and the subsequent Law 374/1997 which definitively banned them from the accession of our country, one of the first signatories of the Treaty of Ottawa against anti-personnel mines. Anti-personnel mines were also said to have been made in Italy only exported until the early 1990s“.
These Italian-made TS/6.1, TS50 and TS/2.4 (MATS/2) mines were defused by Russian engineers on Ukrainian territory.
And how many of these «Souvenirs dl’Italie» are there? People will suffer for a long time…
????https://t.co/4d160mBGGP pic.twitter.com/Nknn5DDRgj
— Embassy of Russia in Italy (@rusembitaly) January 9, 2023
On Monday, the allegation against the Italian government was published on the embassy’s Twitter profile. The post begins with a photo where you can see some mines, accompanied by the Moscow diplomat’s inscription: “These Italian-made mines were TS/6.1, ТS50 and TS/2.4 (MATS/2). defused by Russian pioneers on Ukrainian territory. And how many of these “Souvenirs d’Italie” are there? People will suffer for a long time.”
But Crosetto’s public intervention denies the Federation’s version: “The Russian Embassy in Italy, like the Russian Foreign Ministry, on the alleged anti-personnel mines manufactured and sold by Italy lies, knowing that he is lying – attacks the minister – The latest tweet from the Russian embassy contains in particular intentionally misleading, untrue and seriously defamatory information. An allusive and tendentious propaganda against our country, which has always respected the rules of international law. It surprises the use of fake news and uncontextualized photos to mislead the reader to wildly wrong conclusions”. The defender then explains his position: “The mines reproduced in the tweet (1 anti-personnel and 2 anti-tank mines) are reminiscent of Italian mines Valsella/Tecnovar – he explains – that they cannot be Italian for a variety of reasons. More than 28 years ago, the production of anti-personnel mines in Italy was interrupted by a moratorium imposed by the Italian government and the subsequent Law 374/1997, which definitively banned them from our country’s accession, among the first signatories of the Ottawa Convention against landmines. In addition, Italian-made anti-personnel mines were only exported until the early 1990s. The production license has also been granted to other countries, as can be seen from the initials of the only landmine shown in the photo, a VS50 not produced in Italy but in the Far East. We warn Russia and its diplomatic terminals against continuing to spread false news on this matter.”
A version, that of Crosetto, was also confirmed by the experts Italian Network for Peace and Disarmament that of his campaign coordinator Franz Vignarcahelps clarify: “The photo of the Russian embassy in Italy with hypothetically defused Italian mines in Ukraine only shows the ‘long’ effect of weapons (especially some), but it has nothing to do with recent military shipments – we read a tweet – reports it Italian campaign to ban landmines and Guido Crosetto rightly underlines it”.
Photo from the Twitter profile of the Embassy of Russia in Italy