"DPR" is already in Verona. Ties of Italian separatists with Russia

The Embassy of Ukraine in Italy sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy and the prefecture of Verona due to the opening of a representative office in the country of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People’s Republic". In Italy, it appeared on February 9, it was headed by Palmarino Dzokatelli, who recently was appointed head of the Veneto -Russia association.

"The Embassy of Ukraine decisively condemns any attempts to advance and support in Italy terrorist groups-fake" republics "in the territory of Ukrainian Donbass, which is unacceptable not only for the EU member, but also for any society that shares democratic values and basic rules of modern world order," the embassy said.

The representative office of the "DPR" in the Venetian region (its other name is the Veneto region. - approx. RS) - not the first such kind in Italy. Since the end of 2016, the DPR office has been in Turin, where the representative office of the unrecognized South Ossetia has also been opened. All these organizations are not officially registered and are purely declarative "representative offices", as said by Dmitry Volovnikov , an adviser to the Embassy of Ukraine in Italy, referring to the documents provided by the local authorities. Nevertheless, the opening of such representative offices, as a rule, is the initiative of the officially registered "friendship societies" of individual Italian regions with Russia.

Anton Shekhovtsov , who studies the Kremlin’s connections with European populists and extreme right, speaks of the two reasons for such cooperation: “The first is the huge space provided by the representatives of these movements in the media related to the Kremlin, such as Sputnik, RT or“ Voice of Russia. ”The second is the use of observers consisting in these or other movements to ensure the raid of the legitimacy at the election processes in Abkhazia, Transnistria, South Ossetia, Crimea and Donbass, which otherwise seem dubious from the point of view of the law.

Now we are talking about the third field of cooperation: the support of unrecognized "republics" and the annexed territories under sanctions are becoming a springboard for entrepreneurs who are trying to receive new contracts in Russia and, therefore, a very specific material reward.

In a recent interview on the appointment of Palmarino Dzokatelli to the post of head of the Veneto -Russia Association, he said that his initiatives are supported by representatives of the Italian business: “At this meeting (we are talking about the first meeting“ Veneto -Russia ”in 2019. - Note. RS) gathered many of our entrepreneurs who are interested in making themselves in Russia and Crimea.” According to Dzokatelli, Italian furniturers, marble handlers and entrepreneurs engaged in agriculture are going to take part in Yarmarka exhibitions in Yalta: "We, of course, hope that our entrepreneurs will be able to sign many contracts and conclude profitable transactions throughout Russia." According to him, the database of Italian entrepreneurs is now being created to "facilitate the work of identifying suitable business contacts in the Russian Federation."

This year, Dzokatelli is going to visit the Krasnodar Territory along with other Venice entrepreneurs and politicians of the Veneto region. According to him , this trip is organized by Alexei Stovbun, who covers the cooperation of the Italian region Veneto with the Russian regions in the Russian press , publishing articles about this cooperation in the New Kuban publication.

Last year, Dzokatelli was already a member of the VI International Agrarian Forum "AgroExpokrim" in Yalta, where he talked about Italian winemaking asa representative of Gelox International, which sells systems for cooling and storing fruits and other food foods, as well as one of the founders of Agrerovenia LLC, registered in Gorodovikovsk.

Among the founders of LLC Agrevenia there are other Italians. For example, Eliso Bertolazzi, who regularly tells in the Russian media about the courts over the "DPR" by the Italians who fought on the side of the DPR and that in Europe they talk little about the Donbass. In the press, he acts as an independent Italian journalist, then as a researcher at the Institute of Higher School of Geopolitics and related sciences. Bertolazzi, like Dzokatelli, was an observer in the unrecognized elections of the head of the self -proclaimed DPR in November last year. Before that, both of them traveled to the Crimea during the presidential election in Russia. Stefano Waldemburi, a deputy of the regional parliament Veneto, was also with them.

Valdegamberi is a frequent guest of meetings of the Veneto -Russia Association, he was initiated by the resolution on recognizing the annexation of Crimea adopted by the local parliament. The resolution has no legal or international consequences, since Italy has joined the sanctions of the European Union in relation to Russia and recognizes Crimea by the territory of Ukraine. Behind Valdegamberi’s stormy activity, you can also find quite pragmatic interests: he is going to help Crimea establish the cultivation of olives and the production of olive oil.

Both Valdeambury and Dzokatelli come in for the abolition of sanctions imposed by the European Union after the annexation of Crimea. At a recent meeting of the Veneto -Russia Association, Valdeamberi spoke about the preparation of a document condemning the automatic extension of sanctions against Russia Italy, which "will be sent to all Italian political forces." Valdeamberi advocates the independence of the northern regions of Italy and the formation of an independent state of “falling” in order to achieve the possibility of making independent decisions, including at the international level, for example, abolishing Russian sanctions. Dzokatelli, the president of the “Independent Veneto,” president, who advocates the independence of the Venetian region from Italy and the European Union, holds similar views. Nevertheless, in Italy, consultations were once held on a possible referendum with the question of Veneto's independence and it turned out that this contradicts the Italian Constitution.

“Unfortunately, in Italy there are political marginals in Italy, which are obviously ready to increase the level of provocations later ... However, we are convinced that the mentioned unlawful actions of individual representatives of the local Veronian political cell will not be able to question the firm position of the Italian government regarding the support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian embassy in the embassy of Ukraine emphasized in the statement of the embassy of Ukraine Italy, associated with the advent of the DPR representative office in Veneto.

The so -called "DPR representative offices" have recently appeared in several countries of the European Union. In addition to Italy, we are talking about two French cities-Marseille and Ex-en-Provence. The Foreign Ministry of France called the illegal activities of these organizations, but in the middle of last year, the court decided not to close the DPR representation in Marseille, the French prosecutor's office appealed this decision. By the court’s decision, the “Consulate of the DPR” in the Czech Republic was closed last year.