"Tomorrow we will begin the withdrawal of the medical-military units from Italy", Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Shoigu said yesterday during a conference call.
The Russian press does not forget that the humanitarian mission of its military in Italy has almost caused a diplomatic incident.
The newspaper The print at the end of March he had labeled Russian supplies "useless", referring to an alleged (anonymous) government source, only after a few hours the arrival of Russian planes in Pratica di Mare, adding that the operation would have been nothing else what an excuse for intelligence.
The article obviously generated irritated reactions from members of the Russian government, which initially replied with a letter addressed to the editor of La Stampa Molinari by the Russian ambassador to Italy, a letter to which the editor of the newspaper had not responded. but the same author of the article, Jacopo Iacoboni.
Another letter from the spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense stressed the gratuitousness of Russian aid and defined it totally unfounded the insinuations of the journalist from La Stampa.
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense issued a response statement thanking Russia for the help received, but condemned the "inappropriate tone of some statements" by Russian representatives in response to the press article.
Also read: "From Russia with love. From Italy? A dried fig!"
