The leader of the "Forward Italy" party, Silvio Berlusconi, spoke at a closed meeting with the parliamentary faction of his "Forward Italy" party about the restoration of his relations with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

An audio recording of Berlusconi's speech was published in the Italian media, Politico reports.

During a conversation with his fellow party members in the parliament, the odious Italian politician, in particular, noted that he was worried about Italy's relations with Russia, because, as he claims, "the ministers said that we are already at war with Russia because we supply weapons to Ukraine."

In this context, Berlisconi noted that he "restored relations with Putin a little." 

"For my birthday, he sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very nice letter. I responded with bottles of lambrusco [Italian wine] and an equally nice letter," the former Italian prime minister says in the audio recording.

Subsequently, Berlusconi denied that he had restored relations with Putin, assuring that he told the parliament "an old story about an episode from many years ago."

Berlusconi's "Forward Italy" party is part of the parliamentary coalition that formed the government. 

Coalition leader Georgia Maloney tries to distance herself from Russia, calling the invasion of Ukraine "an unacceptable large-scale act of war by Putin's Russia" and advocates military aid to Ukraine.

We will remind, earlier Silvio Berlusconi said that he is ready to become a mediator in negotiations with the dictator of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, together with the former Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, regarding the war in Ukraine.

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