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A journalist from “La Stampa” looked into the usefulness of assassinating the Russian president. Moscow denounces an “incitement to crime”, the daily replies that the ambassador cannot “teach us journalism”.
“La Stampa” said it rejects “the lessons of those who process information the way it is known in their own country.”
photo d’illustration AFP
“What if the assassination of Putin was the only way out” of the war in Ukraine? The Russian ambassador to Italy filed a complaint on Friday against the Turin daily “La Stampa” after the publication of an editorial examining the hypothesis of the elimination of the Russian president. In an article published on February 22, the journalist and war reporter Domenico Quirico writes: “Military intervention being ruled out, the diplomatic solution inoperative, all that remains is to theorize the assassination of the Tsar by the hand of a close.” “The number one plan of Biden, NATO and the Europeans is this: have someone in Moscow assassinate Putin, freeing us of the burden,” he said.
But this war reporter kidnapped twice, in Libya in 2011 then in Syria in 2013, concludes thus: “Are we certain that the violent elimination of the tyrant would not cause an even worse chaos? We can only be pessimistic.”
Russia’s ambassador to Italy, Sergei Razov, filed a complaint on Friday morning with the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office for incitement to crime. Upon leaving the courthouse, the diplomat denounced an article “that violates the ethics, morals and rules of journalism.”
Political support
Asked by AFP, the director of “La Stampa” denied “unfounded accusations”. “Domenico illustrated this theory to dismantle it. Beyond the moral question, he writes that the remedy would be worse than the disease, because it would risk exacerbating the spirit of revenge of deep Russia”, pleaded Massimo Giannini. He also said he rejects “the lessons of those who process information in the way that is known in their own country. It is not the Russian ambassador who can teach us journalism”.
“La Stampa” received the support of several political parties, and Italian Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs Benedetto Della Vedova defended “the freedom of Italian journalists to write and practice their profession.” “This is the substantial difference between Putin’s Italy, Europe, the Liberal Democrats and Russia, where citizens are arrested only because they call a war a war,” he tweeted.
(AFP)