Italy postpones decision on aid to Ukraine due to corruption scandal – media
3 December 15:09
The Italian government has postponed the approval of a decree on military aid to Ukraine for next year, Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the matter, "Komersant Ukrainian".
This document introduces a permit regime that allows the Italian government to order supplies to Kyiv without parliamentary approval for each new batch of military cargo. Since the start of Russian aggression in 2022, Rome has already sent 12 packages of military aid to Ukraine, including the SAMP/T air defense system.
The reason for the delay was tensions within Prime Minister Giorgi Maloni’s coalition government over support for Kyiv. The head of the Council of Ministers promised to help Ukraine in its confrontation with Moscow to the end, but her deputy and leader of the Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, expressed doubts about the feasibility of further support. The politician referred to the corruption scandal that recently erupted in Ukraine and affected the position of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to Reuters sources, the decree on aid to Ukraine was included in the agenda of the meeting on Wednesday, December 3, but was eventually removed due to the busy agenda.
The current document on aid to Kyiv will expire at the end of the year. Once approved by the government, the new decree will take effect immediately, but it must be ratified by parliament within 60 days.
In mid-October, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crozetto announced at a meeting of NATO defense ministers that Rome would finance purchases of American weapons for Ukraine under the PURL program, Bloomberg sources said.
This program provides that Kyiv will compile a list of critical weapons systems, including Patriot missile systems, after which European NATO members will buy these weapons from Washington and transfer them to Ukraine.
