Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova on Thursday accused Italian President Sergio
Mattarella of lying after his criticism of Moscow's "nuclear
narrative" when he was in Hiroshima last weekend as part of a
State visit to Japan.
During a meeting with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
atomic bombings, Mattarella said the Russian Federation had
become "the promoter of a renewed and dangerous nuclear
narrative, in addition to blocking the work of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty, withdrawing from ratification of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and threatening Ukraine,
instilling the unacceptable idea that nuclear weapons can become
an ordinary tool in conflict management as if they would not
inevitably lead to total destruction."
Zakharova said this was untrue.
"Italian President Sergio Mattarella's claims that Russia
threatens Europe with nuclear weapons are lies and falsehoods,"
Zakharova was quoted as saying by Tass.
Italian institutions and companies came under a series of
cyberattacks by pro-Russian hackers after Mattarella recently
compared Russia to the Third Reich in relation to its invasion
of Ukraine.
Zakharova had said those comments by Mattarella would not go
"without consequences".
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