Italy has summoned the Russian ambassador after a pro-Kremlin Russian television host attacked Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on air.
“I had the Russian ambassador… summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express formal protests following the extremely serious and offensive statements made by the host Vladimir Solovyev on Russian television,” Rome‘s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on X on Tuesday.
In a one-minute segment, Solovyev swore in Italian, calling Meloni a “certified idiot” and worse.
In Russian, he added: “Meloni is fascist scum who betrayed her voters, having campaigned on completely different slogans. Betrayal is her middle name: she also betrayed (U.S. President Donald) Trump, to whom she had previously sworn allegiance.”
Meloni leads a right-wing government that has provided military and civilian aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, but her coalition includes the League party, which has had close ties with the Kremlin.
Earlier this month, she said Italy is very keen to develop a joint drone production with Ukraine.
“We believe that supporting Ukraine is not only a moral duty but also a strategic necessity,” said Meloni, speaking with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
She has recently fallen out of favour with Trump, previously a close ally, distancing herself from the war with Iran and openly criticising the U.S president for lashing out at Pope Leo.
Meloni was the only European leader to attend his inauguration in 2025 and is someone whom he had hailed as “a great leader” just one month ago.
Asked about her condemnation of his comments on Pope Leo, he said: “She is the one who is unacceptable, because she does not care whether Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow Italy up in two minutes if it had the chance.”
The reprimand capped a tumultuous month for Meloni, who lost a crunch referendum on judicial reform in March and then saw her political ally Viktor Orban ousted from power in Hungary.