Russia is not interested in “sending drones to swarm us,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in igniting a global conflict, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday, replying to claims that Moscow could send drones against the EU nation.
Just a day earlier, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Russia could target Italy or other European nations with drone attacks. This month, Poland and Estonia accused Moscow of breaching their airspace – accusations that Russia has dismissed as unfounded.
“I don’t think Putin wants to start World War III, so I want to reassure all Italians,” Tajani said in a speech at a Forza Italia party event in Telese Terme on Sunday.
“I don’t believe Putin wants to send drones to swarm us,” he said, adding that he had discussed the subject with Italian Defense Minister Guido Crossetto that morning.
In early September, Poland accused Russia of violating its airspace with a number of drones, with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski later warning that any intrusions would be met with force.
Moscow has stated that Warsaw’s accusations are baseless and argued that the incident was fabricated to derail the Ukraine peace process.
According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the drones allegedly found on Polish territory could not have been launched from Russia.
“If they are the ones we are thinking of, then their flight range is shorter than the distance from the border of the Russian Federation to the border with Poland,” he said on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
During his speech at the event, the top diplomat dismissed Western claims that Moscow is planning to attack NATO in the next few years. He also expressed concern that certain European bloc officials “are beginning to seriously talk about a third world war as a potential scenario.”
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