Former Italian Prime Minister (PM) Giuseppe Conte has opened up about the zero results of Western efforts to arm Ukraine and destroy the Russian economy.
Conte said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance’s efforts to defeat Russia in the Ukraine conflict had failed miserably as Moscow continued to persist amid weak Kyiv counteroffensive and Western sanctions.
The opinion of the former PM and leader of the Five Star Movement party was conveyed through a post on his personal Facebook account.
“A year and a half of hostility between Moscow and Kyiv has shown that it is time to put aside optimistic assessments… fueled by shallow and deafening war propaganda in the West,” he wrote, as quoted by RT.
The strategy of the United States (US)-led military bloc, which has so far provided massive military aid to Kyiv, has failed to produce the much-anticipated Russian military collapse.
Conte recalled that Ukraine never succeeded in pushing back Russian troops from Bakhmut, a key Donbass stronghold that Russia captured in May after months of heavy fighting.
“There has been no disintegration of [Russia’s] military and paramilitary departments, no setbacks due to Ukraine’s counteroffensive,” he stressed, adding that Western hopes of domestic political turmoil in the country had also failed to materialize.
Meanwhile, the tough sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia have not bankrupted Russia or crippled its economy, Conte said, noting that the long-standing goal of isolating Moscow has not been achieved at all.
To underscore his point, the politician pointed to the recent BRICS summit, where the Russia-member bloc ended up expanding the group to other countries.
In addition, Conte claimed that the conflict in Ukraine had exposed the European Union’s inability to develop an effective joint strategy and to express autonomous political and economic leadership. Instead, it has become another indicator of the bloc’s compliance with the US.
Conte’s comments came as Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed to achieve significant results despite more than two months of fighting. According to Moscow, Kyiv has lost more than 43,000 service members and nearly 5,000 pieces of military equipment since the start of the offensive.
Source : CNBC
