{"id":221560,"date":"2019-07-04T23:41:35","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T03:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=221560"},"modified":"2019-07-04T23:41:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T03:41:35","slug":"putin-asks-italy-to-help-restoring-ties-with-eu-meets-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/04\/putin-asks-italy-to-help-restoring-ties-with-eu-meets-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin asks Italy to help restoring ties with EU, meets Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vladimir<\/a>
Putin\u00a0has acknowledged that sanctions have cost Russia an estimated $50 billion since 2014, but he contends EU nations have suffered even greater damage. (File photo:<\/a> President of Russia\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ROME — Russian President Vladimir\u00a0Putin\u00a0asked Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday for help in improving relations between the European Union and Russia and stop sanctions on Moscow.<\/p>\n

After meeting with Conte as part of a one-day visit to Rome,\u00a0Putin\u00a0said he hopes Italy will explain to the EU the damage that has been caused by economic sanctions imposed by the EU and the U.S. after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cEuropean nations missed the chance to sell billions worth of goods on the Russian market,\u201d\u00a0Putin\u00a0said at a joint news conference with Conte. \u201cThis means losses for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin\u00a0has acknowledged that sanctions have cost Russia an estimated $50 billion since 2014, but he contends EU nations have suffered even greater damage.<\/p>\n

Conte said Italy would act as far as possible to help restore a full relationship between Russia and the EU.<\/p>\n

Addressing the situation in Libya, the two leaders agreed that the parties in the conflict should conclude a cease-fire agreement and start dialogue.<\/p>\n

Putin, however, said Russia is not obligated to make any substantial effort in Libya because it has never bombed the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be right to remember how the whole thing started, who destroyed Libya’s statehood. As far as I understand, it was NATO’s decision,\u201d\u00a0Putin\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

In his first visit to Rome in four years,\u00a0Putin\u00a0also met with Pope Francis for \u201csubstantive talks\u201d at the Vatican and thanked the pontiff for discussions on a range.<\/p>\n

During an hour meeting at the Apostolic Palace, the two addressed \u201cvarious questions of relevance to the life of the Catholic Church in Russia,\u201d the Vatican said in a statement. It said they also discussed \u201cthe ecological question and various themes relating to current international affairs, with particular reference to Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting came a day before Catholic leaders from Ukraine gather at the Holy See to discuss the continuing conflict in their country and the fallout from the schism between the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches. The Vatican said the aim is to lend support \u201cin the delicate situation in which Ukraine finds itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine formally split from the Russian Orthodox Church in a schism recognized by the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. The push for a full-fledged and independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was bolstered by fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed rebels.<\/p>\n

Some observers speculated\u00a0Putin’s visit could be a prelude to a first-ever papal visit to Russia, but\u00a0Putin’s foreign affairs adviser said the issue wasn’t on the agenda.<\/p>\n

Putin\u00a0also scheduled a private meeting with a long-time friend, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, before returning to Moscow late Thursday.<\/p>\n

Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, who has made no secret of his admiration for\u00a0Putin, planned to attend a dinner with\u00a0Putin.\u00a0The two talked in Milan during\u00a0Putin’s visit in 2014, in Salvini’s role as leader of the then-Northern League.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe League and its leader Salvini are active supporters of a restoration of full co-operation between Russia and Italy. They have spoken for a quicker abolition of anti-Russia sanctions introduced by the U.S. and EU. Here our points of view are aligned,\u201d\u00a0Putin\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Colleen Barry in Milan and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROME — Russian President Vladimir\u00a0Putin\u00a0asked Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday for help in improving relations between the European …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":220693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-giada-zampano","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221561,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221560\/revisions\/221561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}