Italy-Ukraine Relations: Signs of Improvement, but No Breakthrough

On February 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Italy for a two-day official visit, the first since his election last April. Zelenskyy met the president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte; he additionally visited the Vatican (Agenzia Nova, February 7). Several days later, on February 10, the Ukrainian minister of foreign affairs, Vadym Prystaiko, also arrived in Rome (La Repubblica, February 9). Several issues explain this renewed activity along the Kyiv-Rome axis. President Zelenskyy, himself, stressed that his country wants to strengthen its ties with Italy because the latter country is “a powerful [European Union] and NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] member” (UNIAN, February 8). However, the Ukrainian side was also hoping to resolve two bilateral issues of fundamental concern.

First, Zelenskyy urged the Italian prime minister to shut down “the illegal offices that the DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic] and LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] offices opened” in Italy (President.gov.ua, February 7). These quasi-diplomatic offices are lobbying for the separatist cause and were opened in several Italian cities: DPR offices in Turin (2016) and Verona (2019), and an LPR office in Messina (2018) (East Journal, February 17, 2020). Italian-language Russian media described the 2016 opening of the Turin DPR office as a “symbolic event, an important step in the DPR’s path toward independence” (Sputnik News Italia, December 15, 2016).