Antonio Tajani, Italy’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, announced that Rome is about to sign a bilateral security cooperation agreement with Ukraine, ANSA reported.
“I consider it my duty to give advance notice to parliament of the contents and key aspects of the ongoing discussions, which we hope to be able to bring to a successful conclusion in the coming days,” he said at Thursday’s combined session of the Lower House and Senate defense and foreign affairs committees.
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Ukraine has been keen to shore up its security with bilateral agreements while it waits in hope of someday joining the NATO defence alliance.
According to Tajani, this agreement will have “political and symbolic” value, “giving a clear message in favor of international law.”
Italy’s foreign minister admitted that an “acceleration” in efforts to support Kyiv was influenced by the death of Russian opposition leader Oleksiy Navalny in custody on Feb. 16.
“The dramatic death of Putin’s opponent came just days from the second anniversary of Russia’s unjustified and brutal aggression against Ukraine,” Tajani added.
He also reassured that Italy has been pledging to support Ukraine’s reconstruction “in two phases, one while the war is still ongoing and one after.”
In recent days, the Ukrainian and Italian sides held another round of negotiations on a bilateral security agreement in pursuance of the G7 Joint Declaration on Support for Ukraine, and Andriy Yermak, Chef of Zelensky’s Office, met with Pier Francesco Zazo, Ambassador of Italy to Ukraine, regarding this issue.
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