“The defence of Ukraine must be a non-negotiable principle,” says Carlo Nordio

“We are faced with a criminal act of aggression by a major power, the Russian Federation, against Ukraine, and we cannot remain neutral between the aggressor and the victim, for ethical reasons and for military reasons, because today Europe’s borders are not where the maps show them to be; they are in Ukraine. Because the European Union, even though Ukraine is not a member, is nonetheless currently under this intense pressure from Russia,” Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told us on the sidelines of the Festival of Optimism organised by this newspaper in Florence.

“We must bear in mind that when President Putin launched this offensive, he did not even have that flimsy pretext that Hitler had in 1938 when he demanded the annexation of the Sudetenland, because it was a territory inhabited largely by German-speaking people. In this case, President Putin did not even identify the Russian-speaking people of the Donbas as those he wished to liberate, because the attack began in the north, against Kyiv, and was halted by a Ukrainian response – a military response that threw Russia’s annexation plans into disarray. Why annexation? Because Putin himself had said on television – and I heard it personally – that Ukraine was a sort of geographical construct artificially created during the Leninist period, which had recognised Ukraine – albeit within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – as an autonomous republic, whilst, according to Putin, it was part of Greater Russia.

So his plan was, and remains, clear: the annexation of Ukraine and, in the future, the restoration of the old Soviet empire – including Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and who knows what else.

“This is why Italy’s position must be unequivocal. The defence of Ukraine must be a non-negotiable principle, and anyone who opposes providing aid – including military aid – to this country, which has been attacked, is not acting in Europe’s interests.”