Deputy Premier and Transport Minister
Matteo Salvini on Tuesday said the government has not discussed
sending Italian troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping
effort, expressing caution over the idea of deploying them
within a UN mission.
"The government is not talking about Italian soldiers in
Ukraine, nobody asked us even a soldier.
"We will talk about it when we are asked.
"We already have thousands of Italian soldiers around the world,
I would be very cautious before sending more", Salvini said when
asked by reporters about sending Italian troops to Ukraine as
part of a UN mission on the sidelines of a congress on
immigration organized at the Lower House by the right-wing
League party he leads.
Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio
Tajani said Italy could consider the possibility of deploying
troops in future buffer zones in Ukraine as part of a UN
peacekeeping mission while noting that he did not believe
European or NATO troops would be useful and that the deployment
of Italian troops had never been discussed.
However, he noted that, "if we need to create a buffer zone, it
is necessary to send troops under the flag of the United
Nations, and in such a case Italy could be available, as occurs
in Palestine, but always with everyone's co-responsibility".
Tajani stressed that "an interposition force must be under the
United Nations so it is neutral".
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