Why is Putin so popular in Italy?
The reasons for a decade-long problem
In June 2022, on a sample of 8,000 people in 10 European countries in the first 100 days of war in Ukraine showed that Italy was the least inclined country in the Old Continent to condemn Russia for the start of hostilities. In fact, only 56% believe that the blame is to be attributed to Vladimir Putin, while 27% accuse the West and Ukraine of having provoked Russia. Furthermore, Italians would be the European people most inclined to seek a compromise with Russia, with only 39% of respondents believing Russia is responsible for the failure to start peace negotiations.
This data actually reflects my personal daily experience from the outbreak of the war in Ukraine from February 2022 to today. There are really many people I have met who accuse the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelens’kyj of having sought it and of having pushed Putin to attack his country, repeating what has been expressed by Russian propaganda for the past two years. But why is this attitude so widespread in Italy compared to other European countries?
The answer lies in the term “anti-Americanism”. This sentiment, extremely widespread especially in the older generations of Italians, has two different origins, apparently at the antipodes: fascism…
