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Italy's likely next prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, issued a stark warning to Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi - Italian politician and entrepreneur, owner of FC Milan.

Born in Milan, 29, that he risks losing influence in the future government because of his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after she herself declared a strong pro-NATO and pro-European position on Russia over the war in Ukraine, reports the Associated Press.

"Italy will never be the weak link of the West when we are in government," Meloni said in a statement late Wednesday.

She was responding to Berlusconi's private comments to Forza Italia MPs this week, in which the former prime minister boasted he had re-established contacts with Putin and exchanged gifts of vodka and wine for his recent 86th birthday, while justifying Putin's invasion of Ukraine

"I contacted President Putin again - a little, a lot," Berlusconi said in comments recorded and published by the LaPresse news agency.

"He sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a really nice letter for my birthday. I replied with 20 bottles of Lambrusco (sparkling Italian red wine) and a similarly nice letter.

Berlusconi's comments have contributed to political upheaval in Italy as Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party won the most votes in the Sept. 25 election, tries to form a cabinet.

She is expected to receive a mandate to form Italy's next government as early as this week.

Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party, the junior partner in the right-wing coalition, is vying for the foreign ministry at a time when Meloni and the EU are strongly backing Ukraine in Russia's war.

Some analysts suggest that Berlusconi is deliberately trying to sabotage her future government.

Breaking the day-long silence, Meloni insisted he would lead a government with a clear foreign policy.

"Italy with its head held high is part of Europe and the Atlantic Alliance (NATO)," she said.

"Whoever does not agree with this cornerstone cannot be part of the government, even at the cost of no government."

Berlusconi has a long-standing friendship with Putin: he has entertained the Russian leader at his villa in Sardinia and even visited Crimea with Putin in 2014 after the Russian leader annexed the peninsula from Ukraine.

After releasing the first audio Tuesday of Berlusconi's resumption of contact with Putin over birthday gifts and "sweet letters," LaPresse released another recording Wednesday, apparently from the same session, in which Berlusconi defended Putin's decision to try to remove the Ukrainian government.

Berlusconi: Putin sent me vodka, we reconciled

Berlusconi has spoken negatively about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of provoking the conflict by increasing attacks on separatists in Donbass since 2014, when they broke away from Ukraine.

He said Putin's "special operation" in Ukraine should have lasted just two weeks to install a "decent and reasonable" government in Kyiv.

But thanks to "unexpected and unforeseen" Ukrainian resistance and funding and weapons from the West, which "arrived on the third day, the special operation that was supposed to last two weeks turned into a war that will last for about 200 years and more," says Berlusconi.

He claims there are no "real leaders" left in Europe or the US.

European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Masralli, asked to respond to his comments on Wednesday, said EU countries were free to engage in bilateral contacts with Moscow while respecting EU policy to reduce such relations "to the necessary minimum".

"The priority of these contacts should, of course, be to present the EU's positions regarding the illegitimate invasion and aggression against Ukraine and to call on the Russian counterparts to stop the aggression immediately and respect international law," she said.

Vodka imports from Russia are banned, but Masrali said he would ask if that ban also applies to gifts.

In previous comments, Berlusconi also justified Russia's invasion, saying Putin was forced into it by pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine - a similar scenario he described in the tape released Wednesday.

"The troops should have gone in, reached Kyiv within a week, replaced (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky's government with decent people and then left," Berlusconi told his favorite late-night talk show host on September 22.

Berlusconi's office first tried to deny his comments about the birthday vodka.

In a statement on Tuesday, his office insisted that he had not resumed his relationship with Putin and that Berlusconi had "told an old story to lawmakers about an episode that happened years ago."

Hours later, after the audio was released, Berlusconi's Forza Italia party tried to distance itself from the comments.

Enrico Letta of the opposition Democratic Party, who warned that Meloni's far-right coalition posed a threat to democracy, hit out at Berlusconi's comments and said they undermined confidence in any Meloni government.

"Any government that is born today in Europe must choose whether to be with Putin or with Ukraine and the European Union," Leta said.

"The Meloni government is born under the worst sign of ambiguity."

Silvio Berlusconi