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Berlusconi claims Putin sent him 20 bottles of birthday vodka
An audio recording of Senator Silvio Berlusconi claiming that he exchanged vodka and Lambrusco with Vladimir Putin just three weeks ago has caused a political crisis in Italy.
In a recording of Berlusconi’s address to parliamentarians obtained by La Presse, it appears that the former-Prime Minister has been using drinks to improve relations with the Russian President:
“The Russian ministers have said that we are already at war with them because we are providing arms and financing to Ukraine. But I am very, very, very worried.”
“I have re-established relations with President Putin a little, quite a lot, in the sense that for my birthday he sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter. I answered him with bottles of Lambrusco and an equally sweet letter. He told me I’m the best of his five true friends.”
Berlusconi celebrated his 86th birthday on 29 September this year, just days after the election where the hard-right alliance of his Forza Italia party, Matteo Salvini’s Lega and Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia won a cumulative vote share of around 43%.
Meloni has, in recent months, been supportive of Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, tweeting to President Zelensky: “…you know that you can count on our loyal support for the cause of freedom of Ukrainian people. Stay strong and keep your faith steadfast!”
However, having one of her key allies renew relations with Putin behind her back has, in the words of one Italian political expert: “…brought chaos to a government that hasn’t been born yet”.
While Berlusconi has denied that the story he shared in the recording was recent, he was also photographed in the senate last week with a sheet of notes he had made on Meloni, calling her: “patronising, bossy, arrogant and offensive”.
Berlusconi and Putin do have a historic relationship. The pair shared drinks in 2015 on a visit to Crimea (just a year after the annexation). Berlusconi visited the famous Massandra winery with Putin and opened a bottle from the 1891 vintage. The incident sparked outrage in Ukraine as it was considered the theft of Ukrainian property.